The unfinished work of freedom

Food. Water. Shelter. Freedom.

Freedom?

Freedom is as basic a human need as having food to eat, water to drink, and a roof over one’s head.

You may not agree with me, but think about it. From the time a child can express herself, she asserts her independence, saying “no”, wanting to do things on her own. In adolescence, a teenager wants to be free from his parents, be his own person. It is part of human nature, the desire to be free. It is, perhaps, the very definition of what it means to be human.

But the darker side of human nature says that freedom is a zero sum game. The more freedom you have, the less I have. So we steal each other’s freedom. We put each other in chains - literal and figurative. Make each other slaves for the sake of our own freedom.

Today, on Juneteenth, we celebrate freedom for 4 million African Americans. Finally, the bonds of slavery that had held generations of Americans had fallen. Their Haitian sisters and brothers had fought the same fight 6 decades earlier, winning their freedom as the first Black Republic.

What is ironic about freedom is how very fleeting it is. Humans are quick to find new chains, new ways of enslaving others, those we deem less worthy. Slavery gave way to Jim Crow, which gave way to mass incarceration. French colonialism in Haiti gave way to American imperialism, which gave way to the crippling grip of greed-fueled poverty.

Each victory in the fight for freedom must give us even more energy to take on the next battle. As we celebrate Juneteenth, we do it while thinking about the millions of African-Americans who have been incarcerated, the thousands who have been wrongly convicted, the hundreds who have been killed by police brutality.

We at Share Hope know that the work is not yet finished. We strive everyday to bring freedom to the Haitian people. A people who have tasted freedom only to have it snatched away by those who deem them unworthy. We stand by them - and all people - in their fight for freedom.

Happy Juneteenth, and may one day all of us be free.