Bharat Darshan welcomes the Juneteenth celebration of Freedom from Slavery

Juneteenth, a new holiday tradition to celebrate Freedom from Slavery

June 19 is now officially Juneteenth National Independence Day, a US federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

The day’s name is a blending of the words June and nineteenth.

It commemorates June 19, 1865: the day that Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and told slaves of their emancipation.

That day came more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. Even after Lincoln declared all enslaved people free on paper, that hadn’t necessarily been the case in practice.

Juneteenth is also known as Emancipation Day. People across the country celebrate with food and festivities, much like the Fourth of July.

All but one state, as well as the District of Columbia, recognize the milestone of Black liberation in some shape or form. For example, some companies honor the occasion by giving their employees the day off.

Despite being celebrated since 1865, it was only until 1980 that Texas became the first state to make Juneteenth a state holiday.

With Biden’s signature, Juneteenth is the first holiday to be approved since Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which was established in 1983.

Whole Love-Whole Tradition-Whole Holiday:

I am posting this article to make an open appeal to the members of the US Congress to pass a decree or law to commence another new holiday tradition in the national life that celebrates the central role of love in developing wholesome human relationships.

The concept of Holiday begins with the story of creation as revealed in the Book of Genesis and it involves the observance of a ‘Holy Day’. “And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done (Genesis, Chapter 2, verse#3).”

Holiday is a day of freedom from labor sanctioned by God, and it is set aside for leisure and recreation to renew man’s relationship with his Creator. In Civil Society, certain days are set aside by Law or Custom and Traditions for the suspension of official business activities and very often in commemoration of some important events in national life. I am using the term ‘Whole Holiday’ to recognize a specific day that is set aside by Human Law in recognition of the Divine Law that is conducive to the development of harmonious, or wholesome interpersonal relationships that are essential to promote the health, and well-being of all people. In the US, there are several holidays that are legal and none of them directly address the central issue of developing Love relationships.

In the United States, we have no Law, or a cultural tradition to commemorate the event in which Jesus Christ has issued the two great commandments asking people to observe the Law of ‘Whole Love’ which demands, 1. The Love of God with Whole Body, Heart, Mind, and Soul, and 2. The Love of Neighbor as a requirement of God’s Law for man.

After my ‘Whole Discovery’, the discovery of the experience of ‘Whole Love’ at Whole Foods Market, Ann Arbor, Michigan on Wednesday, July 30, 2014, I have decided to promote the establishment of a ‘Whole Tradition’ to follow the Spirit of the ‘Whole Law’ to truly observe the Commandment of ‘Whole Love’. To commemorate my ‘Whole Discovery’, I am writing this appeal to ask the members of the US Congress to approve a new Law to observe the last Wednesday of July as ‘Whole Love Holiday’. The choice of Wednesday is very appropriate as most other legal holidays are observed on Mondays as a matter of convenience and not for the purposes of obedience to a Divine Law which should be the source and inspiration for the Human Law. The concept of ‘Whole Love’ represents the ‘Whole Law’ that is explicitly pronounced by Jesus Christ as the only Commandment that the man must follow and observe in his lifetime. To acknowledge the ‘Whole Law’, to celebrate its pronouncement, we need a new ‘Whole Tradition’ by instituting a new ‘Whole Holiday’.