By Rev. Donald L. Perryman, Ph.D.
The Truth Contributor
Juneteenth gets co-opted or hollowed out — turned into a cookout without memory, stripped of its connection to slavery and resistance. – Jemar Tisby
The City of Toledo marked Juneteenth this year with a ceremony that came off as unresearched, unprepared, hurried and last-minute — punctuated by raising the wrong flag.
That failure runs deeper than a flag. It runs all the way back to what this day is built on.
Enslaved people in Texas had been legally free since January 1, 1863 — a fact their enslavers knew but withheld. Nine hundred days of stolen labor and bearing chains the law had already broken. That was not a delay. That was a decision. And that history makes Toledo’s “pitiful” tribute on June 19, 2026, all the more troubling.
What the Flag Said
The flag the City of Toledo raised on June 19, 2026, was the Marcus Garvey flag — red, black, and green — the banner of Black History Month, raised every February in coordination with the Lucas County Commissioners. It is a flag of heritage and pride, of bloodshed, and land to be reclaimed. It is the right flag for that occasion.
However, Juneteenth has its own flag — red and blue fields echoing the American flag, a lone star at its center representing Texas where the last enslaved people finally heard the news. It is not interchangeable with any other flag.
As one community observer put it: raising the Pan-African flag for Juneteenth is like flying the POW/MIA flag on the Fourth of July. Both flags are honored. Both have their place. But one belongs to that day — and substituting the other says, quietly and officially, that you did not care enough to do the research to know the difference.
The Model That Exists
This was not Toledo’s first time honoring a Black cultural observance. The Lucas County Commissioners raise the Pan-African flag each February for Black History Month with a ceremony many observers describe as more structured, more dignified and reverent, and more prepared — proof that this is not a capacity problem. It is a commitment problem.
What the Occasion Required
The City’s assault on the occasion’s dignity did not begin with the flag. It was already underway. There was no apparent theme. Nobody witnessing that ceremony could tell you why June 19, 1865, still matters in 2026.
The mayor respectfully arrived in a suit and tie. A county commissioner came in business attire. Council President Vanice Williams — who organized and facilitated the City’s ceremony — arrived dressed casually as if she was attending a cookout. She has served this city with energy and commitment, and this is not a personal attack. But on an occasion “requiring the good China and silverware,” according to one observer, the person who set the table came underdressed for her own event.
The mayor’s remarks were gracious. But they were remarks about Toledo — not about the 161-year history of deliberate cruelty that Juneteenth demands we take account of. When you are standing in front of 900 days of stolen freedom, the occasion requires more than surface remarks and a casual appearance. It requires the “good China.”
Jemar Tisby saw this coming. His quote was never about enemies of Juneteenth. It was about friends who hollow it out — who show up without doing the work, go through the motions and call it an observance. Toledo called it an observance on June 19. What it was, however, was a mockery of our pain.
In the five years since Juneteenth became a federal holiday, certainly the difference between the Juneteenth flag and the Black History Month flag could have been learned. Moreover, a relevant theme could have been developed, a historian invited, a community elder centered. The research required to get this right is not extensive, but necessary.
What Is Coming
In two weeks, Toledo will join the nation in celebrating America’s 250th birthday. There will be flags — the right ones — and fireworks and remarks about freedom and founding. The preparation for that day will not be an afterthought.
Juneteenth asks a harder question than the Fourth of July, Tisby says. Not “how great have we been” but “how free are we really.” The people whose ancestors were deliberately kept from news of their own freedom for nine hundred days are owed officials who come to that occasion prepared to honor it — not simply to mark it.
Get the flag right. Get the occasion right. And next year, set the table properly and bring out the good china and silverware.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, PhD, at drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org