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'We are living in a perpetual Juneteenth': It's a day to celebrate the end of slavery, but there's still work to be done

“Freedom is an aspirational goal if you’re African American,” Gray said. “It’s something you aspire to be.”

DALLAS — On Saturday, communities across the country, including communities in North Texas, will celebrate Juneteenth. The overarching theme: Freedom. 

On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston to enforce the fact that the slaves were freed with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. President Abraham Lincoln had signed the document, freeing enslaved African Americans, more than two years earlier. 

"We have to acknowledge that this holiday is a result of Texans finding out two years later that they had rights" Venton Hill-Jones, chief executive officer of the Southern Black Policy and Advocacy Network, said. "That they were freed under the constitution of this country, where previously they were counted as three-fifths of an individual.”

While the holiday itself has been celebrated, particularly by African-American communities, for the past 156 years, it's gained more recognition and observation from businesses and governments as groups continue to fight for equality for Black Americans. 

RELATED: Bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday passes Senate

It's a celebration of liberation, Black identity and culture, but it's also a reminder that freedom has been a continuous fight. 

Ed Gray is a member of Remembering Black Dallas, a group dedicated to keeping Dallas’ historic past at the forefront of the conversation as the community works to reconcile and move forward.

“Freedom is an aspirational goal if you’re African American,” Gray said. “It’s something you aspire to be.”

Gray pointed to continued protests pushing the message that Black lives do, in fact, matter, a disproportionate impact of poverty, mass incarceration and an inequitable public education system as examples of issues keeping Black people in bondage, though the physical chains of enslavement no longer exist.

“We are living in a perpetual Juneteenth because we’re marching today for freedom with Black Lives Matter,” Gray said. “We’re now voting against voter suppression, which people did during the Reconstruction era, which happened right after the Emancipation Proclamation and Juneteenth. Today, we’re still in that same battleground that we were on Juneteenth 1865.”

RELATED: 'Racism is probably one of the biggest issues in Dallas': TRHT director on city's history, how to move forward 

Both Gray and Hill-Jones said they are currently most concerned about a push from Texas state leaders, including Governor Greg Abbott and many Republicans, to pass legislation that would limit when, where and how Texans can vote. Critics of the legislation have pointed to multiple stipulations in the proposed legislation that would create barriers specifically for Black and Brown voters.

“Reconstruction is still the time we’ve had the most Black elected officials across this country” Hill-Jones said. “Many do not know that is the only time we’ve had that record number of  Black elected officials, but then we start having Jim Crow laws to limit that voice. Fast forward to the 50s and 60s, and we start having things such as the Southern Strategy that came forth to continue to limit the voices of Black communities as we made the calls for equality and justice. Now in 2021, we are back at this place.”

Hill-Jones, who also serves as an election judge in Oak Cliff, said communities like his, already struggle to get people to the polls. He said limiting hours and polling locations would just make it worse.

“The most marginalized people in our communities will be the ones hit hardest by this,” Hill-Jones said. “I think about our seniors…I think about working single moms.”

Supporters of the bill have said the measures would make elections more secure after widespread claims of voter fraud following the results of the 2020 presidential election, though there was never evidence proving the validity of this claims.

RELATED: Rep. Chris Turner calls Texas election bill a 'solution in search of a problem'

"That was not proven," Hill-Jones said. "We have gone through so many tests. We know that the process was not compromised. Individuals just did not like the results.” 

"It's the new Jim Crow," Gray said. "It's James Crow Esquire now. We're now going through a way where we, through sophisticated means, suppress the vote."

As African-Americans prepare for a weekend of celebration, support and uplifting their communities, both Gray and Hill-Jones said it's a celebration that has to spark action. One that cannot lead to complacency. 

"We cannot move backward," Hill-Jones said.

"When we talk about mass incarceration, there's no need to celebrate that," Gray said. "When we talk about kids going to bed hungry, there's no need to celebrate that. When we talk about an educations system that doesn't educate equally, there's no need to celebrate that."

The celebration, he said, should be about perseverance and the continued pursuit of true freedom. 

"I celebrate being Black," Gray said. “Every day is a day to celebrate if you Black, because I’m a survivor and that’s what this is about. Juneteenth was about surviving."

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