Dear Reader, Last year, I wrote about the real history of Juneteenth: that it was not, as incessantly reported, the day enslaved African Americans learned they were free, but rather the day Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to force the slaveholders at gunpoint to abide by the liberation that had been achieved two-and-a-half months before with the Confederacy's surrender at Appotomax. Today, similar myths continue, from bogus challenges to critical race theory to equally specious claims of “reverse racism.” Those attacks have infected public discourse, threatening journalistic integrity and democracy as a whole. It’s why we need journalism that goes deeper to uncover the true stories behind those narratives, even when they are painful and go against popular beliefs. That’s the work the Forward strives to achieve, and that’s why I’m asking you to support us today. |
