Today, we recognize and stand in solidarity with African Americans whose ancestors were once enslaved by white colonial settlers in the United States and ultimately given their rightful freedom following the conclusion of the Civil War on June 19, 1865. Among the African American community, this day is often considered America’s “Second Independence Day” and is now a federal holiday, thereby making today a day of reflection for everyone.

This week, I had an opportunity to reflect on what it means to be a white man in a nation founded with deeply entrenched racism and built with an economic engine based on the exploitation of human beings. While traveling in Memphis, TN, I visited the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. I experienced several powerful moments while taking a masterfully storied look at the movement for civil and human rights in America. The story of the movement accurately began with a somber look at the founding of our nation that codified racism and slavery even before its birth. The first-floor circular room of the museum depicts images, statues, and interactive experiences that seek to both educate and dramatically portray the practice of slavery that began in the early 1600s.

The practice of slavery in the Americas is known to have begun over one hundred fifty years prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Racism and slavery is our nation’s original sin.

Racism and slavery is our nation’s original sin.

The most striking part of this exhibit wasn’t the images depicting women being sold or the sounds of children whimpering as they were chained and hauled across the Atlantic Ocean with their brothers, sisters, parents, and cousins. Instead, it was the very words inscribed on the ceiling above us and them – the second line to the founding document declaring America’s first independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” (Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776)

On this “Second Independence Day”, I grieve over the fact that the systemic and generational sin of racism continues to plague us all. I recognize the reality that racism – from our nation’s founding – became an embedded cultural narrative that still has yet to be fully atoned for.

As such, I long for a third and absolute freedom given to every person and people group that persists without fear, prejudice, and hate. I dream of a whole people and society that exists in a world made complete because we’re destined to live within it as equal partners, stewards, and creators. I’m also energized by the reality that the work is left to be finished. I’m better equipped, empowered, and more than ever willing to advocate for the oppressed, poor, tired, and thosecontinually victimized by a cruel reality that seems to keep dreams from ever being fulfilled and fully realized.

It’s worth observing that incredible progress toward universal human and civil rights has been made at a deep cost to our nation and in places around the world. But those rights endowed to each of us by our divine Creator remain under threat and regularly challenged, restricted, or denied.

There is a real present-day reaction around the world and brewing among our communities against the movement that birthed democracy and the promise of equal rights for all.

Communities and individuals who identify as black, Indigenous, or persons of color are statistically further behind in society than their white neighbors. No wonder there is a growing crisis in America where the majority of our population is unable to live life to its fullest, enjoy their liberty without anxiety and fear, or able to pursue what brings them happiness and joy. Even the white population is beginning to feel the pain of what it means to be denied universal human rights that equally and equitably benefit everyone regardless of income, status, or identity. We are left with unfinished work that is both deeply human and spiritual.

Today, we celebrate the victory and courage demonstrated by the ancestors of African Americans today and their white countrymen who believed the words drafted by our founders in the Declaration of Independence should be applied to every person in America, regardless of whether they believed it themselves. In fact, the words of the declaration were not destined to become a truth selectively applied or realized by some, but prophetic and ignited a global movement for all.

Today, we recognize there’s much work still to be done in our world. Work that carries from a very distant past with no living memory, but its legacy and effects linger with us. That work also continues as new threats of hate, oppression, exploitation, greed, and evil rise in our ever-evolving world. There is a real present-day reaction around the world and brewing among our communities against the movement that birthed democracy and the promise of equal rights for all. We are not living to the standard set before us or the self-evident truth revealed to us from heaven.

We are left with unfinished work that is both deeply human and spiritual.

On this Juneteenth, we stand in solidarity with the African American community who have been leading humanity to ensure that freedom is rightfully given and protected for everyone. It’s time we join them and embrace the higher calling they have demanded of us since the sit-ins and marches across America during the days of the Civil Rights movement. Our forever work of creating a nation that upholds the value of equality and universal human rights for each other remains unfinished.

Happy Juneteenth, America.