Juneteenth and July 4th: Joy Reid’s Perspective on American Freedom

Joy Reid, a far-left journalist, recently expressed her views on the celebration of American freedom. She argued that Juneteenth should be the true day to commemorate American freedom rather than July 4th. During a conversation with Alex Wagner on her YouTube show, Reid noted that while her White friends celebrate Independence Day on the Fourth of July, Black individuals she knows treat it differently. Reid mentioned, “I can promise you, Black folks, we will take that day off, we will barbecue because we [are] off, but nobody Black I know is really excited about the 4th of July.”

Reid referred to a quote from Frederick Douglass about the Fourth of July being a celebration for slaveholders freeing themselves from taxes for their slave empire. She emphasized the duality of the Fourth of July for African Americans, akin to the feelings of Indigenous peoples about Thanksgiving.

“So they’re like, you know, it’s not cute to us, but so y’all go ahead and celebrate your Thanksgiving. We’re not giving thanks. OK?” Reid quipped. “And then Black people feel that way about Fourth of July.”

Reid highlighted Juneteenth as a more genuine celebration of democracy, pointing out that true democracy emerged only after the end of slavery and the enforcement of the Civil War amendments in the 1960s.

A discussion on Abraham Lincoln revealed his initial willingness to tolerate slavery to preserve the union, a stance Reid deemed “highkey racist.” Reid mentioned Lincoln’s idea of sending all African Americans back to Africa.

“‘Let’s send them all back to Africa.’ Which, you know, maybe we would have been like, ‘Tell the Lord thank you.’ I don’t know,”

Reid and Wagner also talked about President Donald Trump, debating his representation of America’s history versus its present. Reid characterized Trump as an embodiment of American history, which she described as “our just desserts,” while Wagner believed Trump does not represent America’s present.

Reid contrasted Trump with Barack Obama, considering Obama as aspirational, whereas Trump is seen as the “demon” exposing America’s racial struggles.