Today is Juneteenth, the newest, most recently enacted federal holiday. That's the date in 1865 when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, with the news that slavery was over.
But dates are tricky things. And as we rightly celebrate liberty and freedom today, so, if you know me, you know there's also a dark side to the day.
June 19, 1953, 72 years ago. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, convicted of spying for the Soviet Union, including providing secrets of the atom bomb, were executed. Strapped in the electric chair at Sing Sing prison in New York. Killed by our government, in our names, on our behalf.
Some say they didn't do it. There's pretty overwhelming evidence that Ethel really didn't. And that the government knew it.
But, you know, dead is dead. Evidence and innocence be damned.
Oh, maybe it's better to remember them this way.
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