'Not a day off': For Juneteenth, some faith leaders promote political causes

(RNS) — ‘As we acknowledge the contributions of the African American community to America, it’s appropriate for us to lead the way in unifying and making a call for unity,’ said evangelist Alveda King, niece of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

In this June 19, 2020, file photo, demonstrators protest during a Juneteenth rally at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. President Joe Biden signed a bill into law June 17, 2021, designating Juneteenth — which commemorates June 19, 1865, when enslaved people in Texas learned they had been freed — as the 11th federal holiday. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

Adelle M. Banks

June 17, 2026 at 4:38 p.m. ET

(RNS) — For Christian evangelist Alveda King, niece of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Juneteenth is a time for remembrance and unity.

For the Rev. Stephen A. Green, an African Methodist Episcopal minister, it’s a moment for supporting voting rights and spiritual freedom.

For Bishop Garland Hunt, a nondenominational evangelical pastor, it is an opportunity to celebrate Black achievement and counter abortion rights.

As faith leaders mark the Friday (June 19) holiday that commemorates the date in 1865 when more than 250,000 enslaved people in Texas learned they were free — two-and-a-half years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation — they are reflecting on that history while also looking ahead to work they say remains to improve an almost 250-year-old America. And despite the Trump administration’s contentious history with the holiday, for some, that means highlighting conservative causes and speakers, while for others more progressive ones.

Alveda King on the National Day of Prayer in 2020 during the DC Prayer March. Photo courtesy of King

King, a member of a nondenominational Full Gospel church in Atlanta, is an organizer of a Juneteenth celebration on Saturday at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. It is set to feature Ben Carson, former U.S. housing and urban development secretary, and a video for a new song King executive-produced titled “Happy Birthday USA.” King also plans to sing the national anthem at what she said is a free, nonpartisan event.

In an interview with Religion News Service, she recalled how her uncle and other family members focused on the Bible verse Acts 17:26 as they espoused the importance of human connection.

Georgetown University hosted a panel titled “250 Years Towards Racial Justice: Progress, Promise, and Challenges” on Monday, June 15, 2026. The panel was moderated by Kimberly Mazyck and included Bishop-elect Robert Boxie III, Melvin Rogers and Diann Rust-Tierney. Video screengrab

“Of one blood, God made all people,” she said. “We are the human race, and I believe that. And I think that as we acknowledge the contributions of the African American community to America, it’s appropriate for us to lead the way in unifying and making a call for unity.”

At an online Georgetown University event on Monday timed to Juneteenth, Bishop-elect Robert Boxie III, the Catholic chaplain for Howard University, also expressed the need for Juneteenth and the 250th anniversary of the country to be times of healing and solidarity.

“Honestly, this whole division stuff that we are experiencing, this disunity, that’s tiring and exhausting,” said Boxie, who has been appointed a new auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Washington and was a panelist for the “250 Years Towards Racial Justice” event of the university’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. “We’re all called to be these agents of healing and of reconciliation, in demanding it and in participating (in) it.”

At other events planned to mark Juneteenth, leaders from a range of ideological stances will host events that celebrate Black accomplishments and emphasize concerns ranging from religious freedom to voter education.

“Our focus is not only celebrating the past, (acknowledging) the present, but also we want to guide people in the overall trajectory of the history and the journey of Black America toward Christ and toward the Bible,” said Hunt, president of the Douglass Leadership Institute, a national conservative Christian organization of Black leaders that is named for abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Bishop Garland Hunt. Photo courtesy of Hunt

His institute’s Juneteenth Jubilee brunch at a Tysons Corner, Virginia, hotel, will honor Ken Blackwell, a Republican activist and senior fellow of the Family Research Council, who will also be the keynote speaker. Institute leaders also plan to launch their new initiative, called Jeremiah 1:5 Sunday, to urge Black clergy to discuss “the protection of babies in the womb” from their pulpits on the last Sunday in August. (The Bible verse begins “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.”)

“This is not a Republican-Democrat issue, it’s a God issue, and we do want to keep the judgment of God away from our nation,” said Hunt, who said the institute is also working to educate voters about a proposed Virginia amendment on reproductive freedom that includes the right to abortion. “We thought we had a little bit of reprieve when the Roe v. Wade was overturned, but seemingly state after state after state is enshrining abortion as part of their constitution by amendment.”

Meanwhile in New York, Green plans to host “Rock the Blessings,” an event the evening of Juneteenth featuring gospel music performances and calls to action at his Greater Allen AME Cathedral in Queens. It is set to be emceed by LL Cool J, a rapper who runs the company Rock the Bells and a church member, Green said. Scheduled performers include Hezekiah Walker, Smokie Norful and Jekalyn Carr.

More than 1,800 are expected to attend the Queens event, with the Rev. Al Sharpton among the speakers along with other civil rights and political leaders who aim to address economic, civic, creative and spiritual freedom.

Pastor Stephen Green. Photo courtesy of Green

“We think all of them are important, particularly spiritual freedom and civic freedom, as we talk about the assault with the recent Supreme Court decision on Louisiana v. Callais, which really ups the ante at this particular moment, and why we’re gathering on this Juneteenth,” said Green, referring to the ruling that gutted the Voting Rights Act over a month ago. “And New York City will be in the middle of its own primary election on June 23, and so we’re trying to encourage people to vote on that particular weekend, as well as we look towards November as a way to encourage people to engage in their civic duty.”

The next day, his church plans to support a “We Fight We Win” rally that is a continuation of the “All Roads Lead to the South” mobilization held in Alabama in May, shortly after the court’s Voting Rights Act ruling.

Green, who previously led a reparations-focused Juneteenth march in Washington from the King memorial to the White House, said he’s a proponent of being active on the holiday marking Juneteenth as well as the one that honors the civil rights leader in January.

“We think about the King Day and using that King weekend as a day on and not a day off,” he said. “We’re bringing that same thrust to the Juneteenth weekend.”

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