‘All Americans Together’: Ode to Juneteenth inspires hope, work for justice
By Josie Pooler
Reverend James A. Forbes Jr., a pastor in North Carolina, didn’t learn about the true meaning of Juneteenth until he became an adult. However, he has made it his goal to tell others about the day, which was recently made a federal holiday.
The poem, which Forbes calls a meditation, is his contribution to what he describes in the last stanza as the hope for what the nation might yet become:
“When all of God’s children can finally breathe free
We can celebrate being a true democracy.
Imagine the joy and delight we will share
When we recover the oneness already there.”
Watch as he unpacks the historical event and holiday through spoken word, wrestling with the idea that the enslaved who were officially freed on June 19, 1865 were still battling shackles. Listeners are inspired to keep hoping and working for justice.
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