Gaskin: There's still work to be done after Juneteenth

Juneteenth, the author argues, is not only a celebration of freedom but also a warning that rights without enforcement remain uncertain. The piece recalls that the Emancipation Proclamation was issued on Jan. 1, 1863, yet many enslaved Black people in Texas were not freed until Union troops arrived and Gen. Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 on June 19, 1865. The argument extends to today’s voting rights framework, noting that Shelby County v. Holder did not eliminate the Voting Rights Act but severely weakened one of its main enforcement tools: “preclearance,” which required federal approval for certain states and jurisdictions with histories of discrimination before changes to voting laws took effect. The author says harms from discriminatory rules can occur immediately and become difficult to repair through later court challenges.