When did the U.S. become free? It has been a process that didn't end in 6 years at Yorktown or in 7 years at the Treaty of Paris. Was it 89 years later on Juneteenth when the last enslaved African Americans in Texas learned of the end of their bondage. Was it in 1920 when American women secured the right to vote? We've gained freedom bit by painful bit; the freedom to sit at a lunch counter or vote without harassment or marry whom you will. Nor has this occurred without setbacks. In 1868, the legislature of South Carolina (my home state) was 60% African American reflecting the demographics of the state. Then, because of Jim Crow voter suppression, this number fell to zero for nearly a century. Freedom gained and then lost.
Today, we still struggle to answer are we free indeed? Some say the lesson of Juneteenth is that none of us are truly free until all of us are free. Are we free when we incarcerate more people per capita than any other nation on record (more than China or Russia in both rates and raw numbers)? How do we balance our freedoms? How do value the freedom to prosper versus freedom from hunger? How do we balance freedom of religion with freedom from religion? How does a democratic nation wield power? How do we balance our freedom with that of our allies? What about our enemies? Is freedom meant for our citizens alone or also for those who desire to be?
It is fitting that we celebrate the day when "freedom" was declared, and not the day it was "achieved," because freedom in the U.S. is not an event but a continual process of becoming. We may never agree on the question of when we became free, but hopefully we can declare together that all people are created equal and we can share the resolve to make that aspiration a little bit closer to reality day by day.
