As millions of Americans celebrate Juneteenth, the federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S. and the freedom of Americans of African descent, the politics of the holiday today can probably be best understood by what’s happening or not happening at the White House.
While President Donald Trump issued presidential statements honoring Juneteenth in his first term, it is unclear whether he will do the same this year. This year marks 160 years since Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 in Galveston, Texas—historically, a marker of the official ending of a system that enslaved millions of Black Americans made possible by President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the defeat of the Confederacy in the Civil War. History books show that even after this day, some Black communities remained exploited by slavery and in sharecropping systems that effectively functioned like slavery.
Given Trump’s executive orders broadly prohibiting diversity, equity, and inclusion (which are being challenged in court), including actions censoring Black history, historical figures, and even racial terms, it is not clear whether Trump will sign a proclamation as he did in February for Black History Month.
The White House did not respond to a request from theGrio on whether Trump planned on issuing a proclamation or presidential message for Juneteenth.
When similarly asked about a proclamation for Pride Month at a press briefing earlier this month, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the White House had “no plans for a proclamation for the month of June.” She shared, “This president is very proud to be a president for all Americans, regardless of race, religion or creed.”
The Trump administration’s silence on Juneteenth and refusal to talk about race, racial justice, or equity is a stark contrast to where the White House was when President Joe Biden was in office. Biden not only signed into law the Juneteenth federal holiday, marking a historic moment in acknowledging the history of slavery, but he also hosted elaborate Juneteenth celebrations on the White House South Lawn, packed with musical performances that included Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, Kirk Franklin and Jennifer Hudson.
“It was just such an energetic time, because the President [Biden] was so committed to not just observing the holiday but also backing up that observance with a commitment to protecting the rights and the dignity that freedom demands,” said Erica Loewe, former assistant to President Biden and chief of staff of the White House Office of Public Engagement.
Loewe told theGrio of the Biden White House’s Juneteenth concerts, “Large South Lawn concerts do not happen in a president’s White House unless they think it’s important, and it’s very hard to pull off.”
The former Biden official recalled some critics at the time questioning why Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday in the first place. They also questioned whether the former president was doing enough to improve the lives of Black Americans–something Loewe recalls the Biden White House working tirelessly to combat.
“Every piece of legislation that was signed, was done through a lens of equity, and that’s what made that work so fulfilling for me, and that’s what makes seeing this current administration so painful,” Loewe told theGrio. “The administration in power currently is going above and beyond to diminish our contributions to society. So we now see how important it is to not just acknowledge but to also do the work to ensure that equity is prioritized in this country.”
Loewe described the actions of the Trump White House as “disgusting” and hopes that his presidency will stand as a “wake up call for the people who had so many complaints” about President Biden.
“You never know what you have until it’s gone and and a lot is being stripped away. A lot of those things that some said weren’t a big deal–now, I think people are seeing just what a big deal the work we were doing actually was.”
Jason Edwards, the son of late former Texas State Rep. Al Edwards, who is known as the “Father of Juneteenth,” said the federal holiday was his father’s life work. Al Edwards’ tireless advocacy made it a Texas state holiday in 1979 and worked for decades to get dozens of states to do the same.
“The nation finally decided we’re going to celebrate this day of freedom, not just the Fourth of July,” said Jason Edwards, who runs his father’s nonprofit Juneteenth USA.
Edwards admits that while he and millions of Americans will be celebrating the freedoms that Juneteenth represents, he is “saddened that the lights are dim when it comes to celebrating the holiday.”
“I think the people around him now are much more aggressive about muting our history than he ever was,” Edwards said of Trump’s inaction this Juneteenth. However, he noted, “There’s very little that a politician or an office or a strategist can do to dim our light now that the ancestors’ work and them beginning their lives as free people in this country is now being honored [as a federal holiday].”
He added, “We are going to celebrate regardless of what anyone else does. That makes my heart warm. And now, not only are we celebrating down in Texas, now the entire country is celebrating, which is my dad’s lifelong dream.”
Civil rights leaders and advocates tell theGrio that while Juneteenth may be about commemorating history, it’s also important to use the federal holiday to deeply reflect on the present day threats to Black freedoms posed by the Trump administration.
“It’s a day to remember what we have always been up against and what we need to overcome now, which in this case is Donald Trump, Stephen Miller (Trump’s deputy chief of staff) and the entire administration,” said Svante Myrick, president and CEO of People For the American Way. “We never needed a president to celebrate our emancipation, our freedom. And we know who we are. We know what we have to do.”
Antjuan Seawright, a political strategist who advises top national Democrats, told theGrio, “We should not let someone who has basically built their political career on racism, bigotry, hate, coddling with white supremacists and Christian white nationalists deter the progress that we made in this country.”
Thinking back on the 2024 election, Seawright said this is particularly a time of reflection for Black Americans who felt as if the Biden administration “did not do enough to move the needle.” He explained, “Here you have someone who wants to erode every single layer of progress that we made in this country, including the celebration of the Juneteenth holiday.”
Black Lives Matter PAC senior advisor Angela Angel said it’s important for Black Americans to remember that “Freedom has always had to be fought for.”
“We still celebrated emancipation while we still needed federal troops there to protect from white supremacist violence,” she explained. “Today, federal troops are actually being used to carry out that violence. So the struggle continues, but so does our resistance.”
Angel warned that while Black Americans must keep fighting for freedom, they cannot allow themselves to “become worn down.”
“Every cultural celebration, every moment of Black joy also is an act of resistance against this regime that’s trying to terrorize us into submission and constant inundation of violence,” she said. “We’re not just celebrating freedom, we’re defending it, and we can do that both by protests and by moments of joy.”
