The Reckoning: Let the Lie Burn
By Krystena LuCastro · Originally published on Medium Jun 19, 2025
Why Juneteenth Is the Correction, Not the Companion, to July 4th
A plantation burned down in Louisiana.
A Confederate museum in Fort Branch, NC was destroyed by a fallen tree.
And as the smoke and splinters rose, so did a truth too many still refuse to face:
We are not mourning the same things.
Some cried over wood and wallpaper.
Some over walls and flags.
But others… we exhaled.
Because these are not just buildings.
They are crime scenes.
They are curated lies dressed up in chandeliers and cannonballs,
selling nostalgia for a time when we were never meant to survive.
We don’t see elegance.
We see execution.
We don’t see legacy.
We see loss.
We don’t grieve when these places fall.
We wonder why they were ever allowed to continue standing.
We remember strange fruit —
Black bodies swinging from trees that now host wedding garlands.
We remember calloused hands forced to build a country
that still struggles to see our humanity.
So no, we are not mourning.
We are wondering why the reckoning is taking so long.
And if it’s finally here.
Because Juneteenth is here.
And that matters.
Not because it’s new.
But because it took so long to be seen.
And as we approach July 4th, I have to ask —
Have you ever truly stopped to wonder why we don’t all celebrate the same?
Have you asked yourself what it means to celebrate freedom
on a day when millions of people — Black people — were still enslaved?
Or how that day feels to those of us whose ancestors remained in chains?
Yes, the country gained its independence from another nation,
but not from itself.
Not from its addiction to ownership of human beings.
Not from the idea that liberty could be partial.
So how do you expect us to celebrate a day
that never meant freedom for us?
We were not free.
We were not even counted.
We were not even people in the eyes of the law.
So Juneteenth is our Independence Day.
It is the day the truth finally caught up to the lie.
And if we’re honest —
it should be the day this nation truly begins to honor its own values.
Because if July 4th represents the declaration,
Juneteenth represents the correction and culmination.
The completion.
The long‑delayed truth that liberty for some is no liberty at all.
And I say this even knowing that freedom still isn’t finished.
Even knowing that other communities still feel left out of the dream.
Until everybody feels free —
these holidays will remain complicated:
Joy laced with grief. Celebration blurred by contradiction.
So I ask you this —
Who do these holidays include?
And who do they quietly exclude?
Because if your version of patriotism
requires me to ignore my pain,
to celebrate my country while it erases my history,
to wave a flag that has too often waved against me —
then maybe it’s your version of patriotism
that needs to be rewritten. Updated.
🔥 Next Steps: A Call to Clean Up Your Patriotism
We’ve sat with the lie long enough.
If you claim to love this country — then love it with your eyes open.
Not with nostalgia. Not with revisionist storytelling. With accountability.
Start here:
Retire the Confederacy. Period.
It was a betrayal of the United States — rooted in slavery.
Why are traitor flags still prominently flying, why are statues still in public squares while the people they oppressed are forgotten?
Why do we allow this disrespect, this ongoing gaslighting? The time to end it is now.
Uplift Juneteenth.
This isn’t just a Black holiday — it’s a national one.
And yet it’s treated like an afterthought.
We see the fanfare for July 4th.
We hear the fireworks.
We walk through aisles lined with stars and stripes.
But Juneteenth? Crickets.
It’s not enough to acknowledge it.
Recognition without celebration is just performative.
This day represents a moment when America got closer
to living up to its own ideals.
If you claim to love freedom, this holiday should matter to you.
Help make it visible. Teach it. Celebrate it. Pass it on..
Ask why some still don’t feel free.
Sit with it. Don’t dismiss it.
Freedom is a promise, not a privilege.
Teach the full history.
In schools, homes, and public memory.
Let future generations learn truth — not fairy tales.
Because knowing isn’t enough — you have to understand so you don’t repeat it.
Redefine patriotism.
Patriotism is not about defending a broken past.
It’s about fighting for a better future. Holding your country to its word. Demanding more.
🖤 Let the Lie Burn. Let the Truth Rise. Let the Reckoning Continue.
This Juneteenth, we don’t ask for pity.
We don’t need permission.
We are claiming our story,
our freedom,
our place in this country —
not as guests,
but as builders of its soul.
And to those still unsure:
I thought the goal of the United States was for anyone — anyone — to achieve the American Dream.
Or was I mistaken?
Please… correct me if I’m wrong.
💬 If this resonates, leave a comment. If it challenges you, sit with it. And if it changes you — share it.
Read the published version on Medium · Substack