On Juneteenth

by Annette Gordon-Reed

In other words, Texas is where my mother’s boundless dreams for me took flight. It’s also where I learned to think that people could, and should, try, in whatever way they can, to make life better for others alive today and for those to come. That this feeling—this thought—came to me in a place that was at once so very difficult, so full of good things, and so full of potential, shaped my thinking and actions in important ways. About the difficulties of Texas: Love does not require taking an uncritical stance toward the object of one’s affections. In truth, it often requires the opposite. We can’t be of real service to the hopes we have for places—and people, ourselves included—without a clear-eyed assessment of their (and our) strengths and weaknesses. That often demands a willingness to be critical, sometimes deeply so. How that is done matters, of course. Striking the right balance can be exceedingly hard. I hope I’ve achieved the proper equilibrium.