June 19. Today is officially Juneteenth, the oldest known celebration honoring the end of enslavement in the United States. Gov. Roy Cooper made an official statewide declaration today in Raleigh.

It was on this day in 1865, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, that Union General Gordon Granger proclaimed the end of slavery in Galveston, Texas.

Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, it took a little over two years for the news to reach Texas.

“Juneteenth is a reminder that even 155 years after the last slaves were notified of their freedom, we must still fight together for change and champion racial equity. I am committed to making our education, economic, criminal justice, and healthcare systems equal and fair,” said Cooper.

Despite gaining their freedom, newly freed Black men, women, and children were met with brutality, socio-economic racism, and domestic terror. Throughout history, people have fought these systemic injustices and are, yet again, demanding an end to white supremacy and racial inequality in America, Cooper said.

He created the Andrea Harris Social Economic Environmental Health Disparities Task Force to address longstanding, intersectional racial disparities. He also established the North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice to end racially discriminatory law enforcement practices and promote a more equitable criminal justice system.