The Intersection of Juneteenth, Veterans and Homelessness | Veteran Homelessness Week 4
Honestly, I didn’t learn about Juneteenth until I was an adult. Like many Americans, I made it through years of school without fully understanding why June 19th holds such deep significance for so many of my Black brothers and sisters.
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that enslaved people were free, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Imagine that. Freedom had been declared, yet thousands of people remained in bondage because the news had not reached them, or because those in power chose not to share it. For many Black Americans, Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom, resilience, perseverance, and hope in the face of profound injustice.
As I’ve continued learning about our nation’s history, it has stuck out to me that Black Americans have contributed immeasurably to the strength of this country while often fighting to be recognized as full participants in it.
That is especially true of Black veterans.
From the Civil War to World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and beyond, generations of Black men and women answered the call to serve. The Tuskegee Airmen risked their lives defending freedoms that many of them were still denied at home. Countless others returned from military service only to face barriers that limited opportunities available to their white counterparts.
As we continue our series on veterans experiencing homelessness, I believe that history matters not because we are responsible for the sins of previous generations, but because understanding the past helps us better understand the present.
I often think about it the way a doctor thinks about family medical history. When a physician asks whether heart disease or cancer runs in your family, they are not assigning blame, they are acknowledging that the past shapes the present.
The same is true of our communities. African Americans make up roughly 14% of the U.S. population, yet account for nearly 40% of those experiencing homelessness. No single factor adequately explains that disparity, but history, including generations of unequal access to housing, education, employment, and wealth-building opportunities, has undoubtedly played a significant role.
One of the things I love most about City Relief is that our work places us in proximity to people whose stories are often very different from our own. I have never personally depended on SNAP benefits to put food on the table, but through this work I have come to know some of the most resilient, resourceful, and hardworking people imaginable who do. Their friendship has given me a window into how decisions made in distant offices ripple through real lives, often affecting those with the fewest resources and the smallest margin for error.
Proximity changes us. It helps us see beyond statistics and headlines, and reminds us that behind every policy debate are human beings—parents, veterans, seniors, neighbors, and friends—doing their best to navigate extraordinarily difficult circumstances.
As followers of Jesus, we are invited into that work of reconciliation. Scripture points us toward a future where people from every nation, tribe, and language stand united before the throne of God as a beautiful reflection of God’s creativity and redemption.
That vision does not begin someday in heaven. It begins every time we listen, learn, honor the dignity and story of another person, and choose reconciliation over division.
This Juneteenth, I am grateful for the opportunity to continue learning, remembering, and celebrating alongside those whose stories have too often been overlooked or erased. The Kingdom of God is big enough for every tribe and every tongue, and the Gospel is, at its heart, a story of reconciliation to God and to one another.
In a culture increasingly defined by division, suspicion, and isolation, I can’t imagine a more urgently needed message.
With gratitude,
Josiah Haken
City Relief, CEO
