Why EdLoC Honors Juneteenth
About Juneteenth
Last year President Joe Biden signed a bill making Juneteenth the 11th annual U.S. federal holiday—the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established in 1983. Last year, EdLoC joined a growing number of companies and organizations in recognizing the holiday by giving our staff paid time off.
Juneteenth honors the date of June 19, 1865, when enslaved Black people in Galveston, TX—one of the deepest parts of the former Confederacy—finally learned that they were free, a full two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued. In essence, Juneteenth symbolizes the many ways that the promise of freedom, justice, and equality has been delayed for Black people.
The State of Black America & A Call to Action
More than 150 years later, racial equality is still a dream deferred. There is a 6:1 white-to-Black per capita wealth ratio. Black Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at nearly five times the rate of whites. Black households have the lowest homeownership rates in the country at 44.7%, as opposed to white households, which have a 74% rate of homeownership. Yet, even when Black people own property, racial bias has contributed to the undervaluing of homes in Black neighborhoods by $48,000 per home on average, amounting to $156 billion in cumulative losses. School districts with mostly students of color receive $23 billion less in funding than their predominantly white counterparts.
The systemic and compounding barriers that hinder the economic and social progress for Black families are well evidenced and documented. Juneteenth stands as a call to action for America to acknowledge the legacy of slavery, end systemic racism, and actively participate in realizing the full liberation of Black people and communities.
Join Us in Observing Juneteenth
For our part, EdLoC’s mission is to catalyze cross-sector collaboration through a network of values-aligned leaders, help drive policy change, and directly support senior leaders of color who are explicitly focused on dismantling systemic barriers to the academic and economic advancement and success of young people of color.
Through our observance of Juneteenth, we seek to put our values into action and give each other the freedom to engage in causes that are important to us. It is important for us to cherish and celebrate the resilience of our communities in personal and meaningful ways. Additionally, we’re calling on organizations in the public and private sectors to leverage Juneteenth as a means of raising awareness about the impact of racial barriers that exist to this day.
By observing Juneteenth in the workplace, centering the experiences of Black people, amplifying Black voices, embracing Black culture, and acknowledging a fuller, and more accurate, understanding of America’s history, businesses can demonstrate their commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.
