Hey there, folks! Governor Tony Evers here.

This week, we’re celebrating Juneteenth here in Wisconsin and across the nation.

Juneteenth is the celebration of the official end to slavery in our country and the day that Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, and freed 250,000 people.

While Juneteenth has been celebrated by communities all across the country for over 150 years, it became an official federal holiday in 2021.

Here in Wisconsin, we were the 32nd state to formally recognize Juneteenth in 2009, and while we are still working to make it an official state holiday, I’m proud to raise the Juneteenth Flag at the State Capitol each year in celebration.

Folks, we celebrate Juneteenth because it is a celebration of freedom, and it’s a reflection on our nation’s collective past that cannot be separated from our modern history.

It’s an acknowledgment that many of the injustices and inequities Black Americans face today are deeply entrenched in our institutions and of the work we must do together to change that.

It is a reckoning with one of the most shameful parts of our past and celebration of the promise of a brighter, freer future for every person.

Now more than ever, we must not shy away from the realities faced by communities who have felt the disproportionate impacts of centuries of injustice.

Now more than ever, we must work towards a future where every family—no matter their background, race, ZIP code, or socioeconomic status—has the tools and resources to thrive.

And now more than ever, as leaders in D.C. try to sow division and hate, we must remember that there is more that unites us than divides us and that our diversity is our strength. It always has been.

With that, happy Juneteenth, Wisconsin! Take care.