Introduction
This article established the federal and national holiday Juneteenth as a symbolic reminder of the need for and nature of governmental involvement in equity. In June 1865 it took the military to ensure slaves in Texas knew they were free. This is a reminder that every governmental office has the obligation to promote and enforce biblical equity in all societal institutions. This includes governmental offices at all Federal, State, and local levels.
On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to deliver General Order No. 3. It announced a truth that had been legally sealed months prior but denied in practice: all slaves were free. Today, Juneteenth stands as a federal and state holiday—a vital commemoration of delayed justice finally delivered. Yet, as we look across our modern cultural landscape, the celebratory fireworks often mask a deeper, ongoing struggle. In recent years, secular frameworks like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) were widely adopted to fix institutional imbalances, only to face severe political backlash and systemic dismantling.
While the administrative machinery of DEI had its flaws—often focusing on rigid quotas or divisive rhetoric rather than true restoration—the underlying quest for equity must not be abandoned by our government leaders. Instead, Juneteenth offers the perfect cultural pivot point to ground our societal institutions in a framework that is unshakeable, timeless, and universally just: Biblical Equity.
The Divine Blueprint: Psalm 99:4
To understand why government offices must enforce true equity, we have to look at the very nature of the ultimate governing authority. Psalm 99:4 provides a profound blueprint:
The KJV says: The king’s strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob.
Psalm 99:4 commands leadership at all levels in governments and all societal institutions to promote equity and righteous judgment as justice.
Equity is not about exactness but rather high similarity, closeness not a far-offness. That applies to salvation opportunity as well as in blessings and chastisements on earth. It is theologically reasonable to view the word King in Psalm 99:4 as a metaphor for all leaders such as government at all levels and leaders in all societal institutions under the Lordship and Messiahship of Christ of the New Covenant. Same goes for the word Jacob in Psalm 99:4 as being symbolic of all races, nationalities, and ethnicities. And that includes the two genders of male and female as constrained only by the God established distinctions in hierarchical and functional roles in specific limited areas of life.
This scripture reveals that true equity is not a modern political invention; it is an attribute of the Creator. In the biblical context, equity (mesharim in Hebrew) refers to fairness, uprightness, and the leveling of uneven ground. It is the practical application of justice that ensures the vulnerable are protected and the scales of society are balanced.
When federal and state governments offices promote equity, they are not conforming to a fleeting social trend. They are aligning human governance with a divine mandate to do what is “just and right.”
Why the Failure of Secular DEI Shouldn’t Halt the Hunt for Equity
In recent years, DEI became flawed because it began to prominently incorporate unrighteous elements into the quest for godly equity. This incorporation of unholy elements corrupted and in a sense interrupted the progress that was being made to achieve greater righteous equity for Blacks and Women. Nevertheless, as the old saying or idiom goes, we must not throw the baby out with the bath water.
It is no secret that secular DEI initiatives have faced intense scrutiny. Critics argued that some programs created further division, relied on bureaucratic box-checking, or lost sight of individual merit. Because of these flaws, many state governments and corporate entities have completely scrubbed DEI from their mandates.
But discarding the pursuit of equity because DEI was imperfect is like discarding medicine because the first prescription had side effects. The visible, highly public quest for a fairer society must not be abandoned. Government institutions have a unique, God-given responsibility to maintain the social fabric. While secular DEI often lacked a unifying moral anchor, Biblical Equity provides one. It asserts that every single human being possesses inherent worth because they are made Imago Dei—in the image of God.
Therefore, systemic fairness is not about hitting a corporate quota; it is about honoring the divine dignity of every citizen.
The Role of Government: Promoting and Enforcing True Equity
A truly just government cannot be passive. It cannot simply declare people “free” on paper while leaving generational, structural roadblocks intact.
Just as General Granger had to use federal authority to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas, modern federal and state offices must actively enforce biblical equity across all societal institutions—from education and housing to law enforcement and the judicial system.
1. Levelling the Playing Field
Biblical equity acknowledges that people do not all start from the same place. Enforcing equity means ensuring that a child’s ZIP code does not dictate their destiny. It means auditing our judicial systems to ensure that justice is not bought by the wealthy while the poor are crushed.
2. Upholding Absolute Fairness
Unlike flawed secular models that occasionally leaned into reverse favoritism, biblical equity demands absolute impartiality. Leviticus 19:15 commands: “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.” Government institutions must ensure that policies are blind to status but hyper-aware of fairness.
3. Progress Made but More Progress Needed Including Government Support at All Levels
I entered adulthood in 1974. The passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1968 Fair Housing Acts were instrumental in shaping attitudes and actions of both Blacks and Whites that empowered me to do relative well.
Most of my adult life has been free of any obvious racism. If any existed, I have never allowed it to hold me down or hold me back from obtaining goals I set for myself.
I say most of my adult life because in 2014 I did encounter racism that was not obvious to me at the time.
In 2014, I was temporarily residing in a particular big city. I needed to get another car while there. So I bought one. A few years after purchasing the car, I received a notice from the Federal Government’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The notice said I and other Blacks as well as Hispanics were racially discriminated against when I bought that car. Notice I said 2014, not 1814 or 1914 but rather 2014. The financial system was caught charging Blacks and Hispanics a higher interest rate than Whites with comparable credit rating.
I did receive a refund. Yet I wonder whether a young 19 year old Black man with a wife and young child might have been tremendously harmed having a higher monthly payment and overall cost in contrast to the lower monthly payment and overall cost of a young 19 year old White man with a wife and a young child. I do not believe such racist acts occur as much as they once did in America. I do believe the number of White racists is much lower than it was prior to the 1970s. Yet, I wonder how much harm was done to even a few Blacks and Hispanics considering the potential compounding negative effect of that over the years.
I once mentioned the racist act by that financial system to a White person. His response was our credit rating must have been low. I said to him if it was 700 it still means Whites got an advantage. His response speaks to the attitude some Whites have in wanting to claim racism does not exist but want to point all of the blame at Blacks. Therefore, I don’t deny the truth about such negative attitudes in some White people. The attitude of the White person demonstrates the need for governments at all level to lead in admitting the continued presence of racism and government punishment of those who commit racist acts.
A Juneteenth Call to Action
Juneteenth is a reminder that justice delayed is justice denied. It took over two years for the news of freedom to reach the enslaved people of Galveston. We cannot afford another century of delay when it comes to systemic fairness.
Our government offices—both federal and state—should use this holiday not just for speeches and days off, but for a deep institutional gut-check. Let us reject the flawed, polarizing methods of the past, but let us fiercely protect the noble quest for a balanced society.
By anchoring our institutional goals in the eternal truth of Psalm 99:4, we can build a nation where equity is established, justice is loved, and the promise of Juneteenth is fully realized for every soul.
