LA County Commission on Human Relations Honors Juneteenth and Reminds all Angelenos To Celebrate Freedom and Strive for Racial Justice
LA County Human Relations Commission honors Juneteenth celebration and urges all LA County residents to celebrate freedom in our nation’s quest for racial justice.
LOS ANGELES, CA(June 19, 2025)–Today, the Commission on Human Relations strongly encourages our entire County family to honor and celebrate Juneteenth. The motion our Board of Supervisors passed unanimously four years ago to recognize Juneteenth every year describes it as an annual opportunity “to celebrate freedom and recognize our country’s continued commitment to ending racial injustices.” Putting this commitment into action is an urgent need and an enduring challenge.
Juneteenth commemorates the arrival of US Army General Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865. The Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all enslaved persons in states in rebellion against the Union, went into effect on January 1, 1863, nearly 2½ years earlier. But it was not until General Granger’s arrival that the promise of the Proclamation could become the reality for the estimated 250,000 people still in bondage in Texas.
At a time when so much of the promise represented in our nation’s stated values and founding principles are still not the reality for many vulnerable, excluded, and historically oppressed communities seeking to thrive here, Juneteenth is both a desperately needed reminder that the important work of ending injustice is unfinished, and a timely and compelling call to reinforce and expand our efforts to transform our vision for justice into daily experience.
