Juneteenth, also known as “Jubilee Day,” celebrates the arrival of Union troops to Galveston Bay, Texas, on June 19, 1865, with news that more than a quarter million African Americans were free by executive decree.

It was two years late, as the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed on January 1,1863. Now it’s a federal holiday and, along with the celebrations, it seems like a good time to report on the progress that freedom has made.

To be sure, freedom is a work in progress. We need only look at America’s founding documents and amendments. The country still hasn’t made good on all its promises. I chant with my fellow activists, “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free!”

I don’t want to be a party pooper or rain on your parade. But we still have a long way to go, especially when persons can so quickly point to the illusion of a so-called great yesteryear.

We need more than time and space between then and now. It will require not only a change of pace but also direction. It matters who is up front and campaigning to lead this country. Unfortunately, America cannot get out of its own way.

Because we are somehow right back where this country started with