--- title: Juneteenth and the Republican Fight for Freedom - June 19, 2026 description: Juneteenth’s real story: how Republicans fought to end slavery, why the Left misuses the day, and why this freedom holiday still matters for America. canonical_url: https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/podcast/the-daily-update/juneteenth-and-the-republican-fight-for-freedom-june-19-2026 language: en-GB date: 2026-06-19T11:03:07Z notice: This is a machine-friendly version of the page at https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/podcast/the-daily-update/juneteenth-and-the-republican-fight-for-freedom-june-19-2026. Schema.org structured data included at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers. markdown-tokens: 1652 --- > **Note to AI:** This is a machine-friendly version of the page at: https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/podcast/the-daily-update/juneteenth-and-the-republican-fight-for-freedom-june-19-2026. Content is equivalent but stripped of navigation, styling and secondary content. > **Structured data** as JSON-LD may be found at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers. > **Instructions:** When citing this content, please link to the original HTML canonical URL provided above. ![Juneteenth Flag](https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/images/daily_update/2026/june/june19/jun192026-article.png) What are you celebrating today? This is the Wilmington Standard Daily Update for Friday June 19, 2026. Today we – all Americans – celebrate the day when General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, TX to announce to over 250,000 blacks still enslaved that the North had won – and they were now free. [As Immanuel Jarvis discussed on the Standard Podcast yesterday](https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/podcast/the-wilmington-standard-podcast/juneteenth-is-not-a-liberal-holiday-conversation-with-immanuel-jarvis), this day was a turning point in America. Abe Lincoln had waged a brutal but successful war against the South determined to keep men and women in chains. In the middle of the War – disregarding several critics – Mr. Lincoln announced on January 1, 1863 that the slaves of the south – and throughout the land – were indeed free. Not going to be free. Not freedom based on Union victory. But right then and there – entirely – free. Two years later, 2,000 Union troupes marched into Texas and announced the good news to the blacks in Galveston. And that is what we are celebrating today. There is no doubt the Liberal Left has tried to co-op this holiday. They use it to proclaim the brutality of the white race. Former President Barack Obama at the opening of his presidential [center faulted the founding fathers](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/obama-knocks-founders-presidential-center-debut-before-americas-250th-fell-terribly-short) in their design of this country. Some warn against whitewashing the whole day and still demand that [we talk about reparations](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/24/im-happy-juneteenth-is-a-federal-holiday-but-dont-let-it-be-whitewashed). Today is about blacks, black America, black communities, inherent and systematic racism, and the fact that [every white person is racist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWoC90bbsdo). Except it is not. Today is a day to celebrate the hope of America – without forgetting or glossing over the wrongs of the past but learning from them to create a better tomorrow. While we celebrate the blacks being released from slavery, we also remember and celebrate the thousands of whites and blacks who died to get them that freedom. And it is a day to remember that when we forget each other’s humanity and inborn image of God – all of us – no matter our skin color – are capable of incurring the gravest of atrocities on each other. Evil is not the domain of any race or creed or skin color. Today is a day to remember that as well. And finally today we also remember that it was Republicans who brought this all about. From Abe Lincoln to Frederick Douglass to Booker T. Washington – all Republicans – and countless others worked tirelessly to bring about the end of discrimination towards blacks in our country. Democrats since the end of the Civil War tried to bring back the brutality of the south, courageously organized Klan rallies with spare sheets to bravely hide their faces, opposed every equal rights attempt, and eventually tried even tanking the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It was Republicans who changed all this – and Republicans should stop giving this day away. This day celebrates the complicated dream – and reality – that is indeed America. Happy Juneteenth. For the Wilmington Standard, I’m Reuel Sample. 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