Juneteenth, Fort Worth, and the Sacred Work of Black and Brown Coalition, by Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D., June 19, 2026

Juneteenth, Fort Worth, and the Sacred Work of Black and Brown Coalition

by

Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.

June 19, 2026

At the National LULAC Convention in Fort Worth, Reverend Haynes offered a timely and powerful reminder on Juneteenth: “You don’t have a civil rights movement without a Black and Brown coalition” (Haynes, 2026). “Black and Brown” is, of course, an imperfect shorthand—one that cannot possibly contain the vast diversity of our peoples, histories, languages, cultures, and ancestral journeys

Yet it also names something real and necessary: our sheer numbers, our shared stakes, and our collective power when we refuse division. His words landed with prophetic force because they named what our histories have long taught us: our struggles for freedom, dignity, education, labor rights, voting rights, and democracy have never been separate. They have always been intertwined.

I am not exaggerating when I say that every visit I have ever made to Fort Worth has been connected, intentionally, to the work of Black and Brown peace, unity, and coalition. Important leadership has been taking root there for many years. That is why Reverend Haynes’ words felt so resonant. Fort Worth is not merely a backdrop. It is a site of memory, organizing, and possibility.

Juneteenth itself reminds us of this deeper truth additionally underscored by Reverend Haynes. It commemorates June 19, 1865, when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, finally learned of their freedom more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation (National Park Service, n.d.; National Museum of African American History and Culture, n.d.). 

Dr. Opal Lee

And how poetic that in Fort Worth, we also honor Dr. Opal Lee, the beloved “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” whose lifelong advocacy helped make Juneteenth a federal holiday. In 2016, at the age of 89, Lee began walking from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., to build support for national recognition of Juneteenth. 

Her 2.5-mile walks in major cities throughout the U.S. symbolized the two and a half years that Black Texans remained enslaved after the Emancipation Proclamation (National Juneteenth Museum, n.d.; National Museum of African American History and Culture, n.d.). Juneteenth became a national holiday, signed into law by President Joe Biden on June 17, 2021.

God bless Opal Lee! 

The power of one, no less. 

The power of mission and calling.

Reverend Haynes’ message was clear: in a nation “conceived in liberty,” the unfinished work of freedom belongs to all of us (Haynes, 2026). It is both prophetic and poetic that LULAC would gather on Juneteenth in Fort Worth, a city so closely connected to Dr. Opal Lee’s historic witness. This day calls us not only to commemorate emancipation, but to resist every effort to divide Black and Brown communities from one another.

His reminder that we do not have a civil rights movement without Black and Brown coalition speaks directly to the work many of us are trying to sustain across Texas. In Austin, Texas NAACP President Gary Bledsoe and I formed Black Brown Dialogues on Policy to deepen precisely this kind of relationship—one grounded in trust, shared struggle, policy analysis, legislative advocacy, and youth leadership. Black Brown Dialogues on Policy has brought together academics, students, community members, advocates, and lawmakers to confront anti-DEI policy, defend ethnic studies, and build solidarity across communities (Black Brown Dialogues on Policy, n.d.).

Through this work, we have mentored many young people into a vision of public life rooted not in division, but in solidarity, study, strategy, and service. That matters because coalition is not merely a response to crisis. It is how we practice democracy. It is how we build the relationships necessary to defend one another when the institutions around us falter.

This is the spirit of Juneteenth, too. It is not only a day of remembrance, but a call to solidarity. It asks us to honor freedom by defending it together. It asks us to remember Dr. Opal Lee’s Fort Worth-rooted witness and to continue building the bridges that others would prefer to see broken.

Our coalitions are not optional. They are the seedbed of democracy. From civil rights to educational equity, from voting rights to the defense of public institutions, Black and Brown unity remains one of the most powerful antidotes to authoritarianism, erasure, and fear.

So today, I honor Reverend Haynes’ words, Dr. Opal Lee’s legacy, Domingo Garcia’s leadership, Fort Worth—as well as Dallas, by the way—has a long history of coalition work, and the youth we are mentoring into this struggle. 

Juneteenth is a celebration, yes—but it is also a summons. It reminds us that delayed freedom is still unfinished freedom, and that none of us gets free alone.

Thanks to Dr. Ana Coca for sharing Rev. Haynes' speech.

Sí se puede! Yes we can!

Happy Juneteenth! ¡Feliz Juneteenth!

Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.

LULAC Council 4721, District VII

Education Committee Chair, Texas LULAC

References

Black Brown Dialogues on Policy. (n.d.). Virtual town hall: DEI and ethnic studies policy in the 88th session of the Texas State Legislature. https://youtu.be/xEi3Rtc0QQ0?si=eYxJeGqbnUQg3Xf1

Haynes, F. D., III. (2026, June 19). Remarks at the National LULAC Convention [Speech]. National LULAC Convention, Fort Worth, TX.

Jackson, A. (2021, June 17). Why 94-year-old activist Opal Lee marched to make Juneteenth a national holiday,Variety. https://variety.com/2021/politics/features/activist-opal-lee-juneteenth-holiday-1234998507/

National Juneteenth Museum. (n.d.). Dr. Opal Lee: The grandmother of Juneteenth. https://nationaljuneteenthmuseum.org/ms-opal-lee

National Museum of African American History and Culture. (n.d.). Our American story: Juneteenth, Smithsonian Institution. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/our-american-story-juneteenth

National Park Service. (n.d.). Juneteenth National Independence Day. U.S. Department of the Interior. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/npscelebrates/juneteenth.htm