Why We Celebrate Juneteenth

By: Dwight Johnson

Have you ever heard the phrase: “delayed is not denied?” It is often used in Christian spaces and, in essence, it is a saying used to help someone that is feeling impatient or forgotten to remember that things come in their proper time. It reminds them to not give up!

Juneteenth is THE celebration that delay does not mean denial. Juneteenth commemorates the blood of slain black and brown bodies whose delay felt like a denial. It is the celebration of what is possible when we situate ourselves in honesty that none are free until all are free, that every does well when everyone does well. We acknowledge that while we have come far, today’s realities remind us that we still have a journey ahead of us.

PTM takes a pause and invites you to do the same - to honor those whose bodies were sacrificed so that freedom would no longer be delayed, but would be realized and activated.

Juneteenth is so much more than a reference to a federal document. Juneteenth is a spiritual proclamation that those who once were captive are now free. Join us in honoring those who have gone before us to show us the way, and to commemorate a celebration that didn’t just free slaves but also charted the course for generations that would come to dare to dream for the imaginable.

It is important that we celebrate Juneteenth, so that our babies at PTM grow up being told and realizing that they are not denied. These narratives that we share with them as they are young and growing up are shaping their futures, and they deserve narratives that remind them that they are capable and worthy of their dreams!