What a Difference a Year Makes for Juneteenth Day and the Truth

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PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

Last year I wrote a column on June 20, 2024, titled “Say Hey, Kids: It’s Juneteenth Day!” Since 2021, June 19 has been the federally recognized holiday Juneteenth National Independence Day, though celebrated for many years before that in many localities. It basically celebrates the federal troops that came to Texas in 1865 to proclaim that the slaves were freed, but that was actually about 2 and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation!

Last year, it was special for the “Say Hey Kid,” referring to the great baseball early Black star, Willie Mays, who died the day before. This year, however, it seems a bit tarnished as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs have been eliminated by the federal government, apparently for political reasons, programs that were trying to address remaining system racism by emphasizing DEI. In reaction to that federal change regarding DEI, many locales have cancelled their Juneteenth programs for one reason or another.

Gratefully, it not only goes on in my Milwaukee, but should be increased in recognition because it is also included for the first time in the large and beloved SummerFest music events, as discussed in the June 3, 2025, article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel “Americans need transformative talks on race. Juneteenth is the space for that.”¹

The very late arrival of the announcement in Texas added to some understandable Black mistrust since slavery. That mistrust has also occurred in health care, especially when the Tuskegee secret study of untreated syphilis in Black men from 1932-1972 was revealed. In psychiatry, over many years we have continued to try to address the overdiagnosis of Black men with paranoid schizophrenia and underuse of psychotherapy, among other cultural and racial influences on clinical care.² Fortunately, we have made internal organization and clinical antiracism strides, but more still needs to be done.

In general, however, the long delay of the Juneteenth news to Texan slaves is an example of how important timely truth is to the citizens of a Democracy like the United States. We are in a time where the truth is more and more difficult to obtain due to “alternative facts,” conspiracy theories, psychological denial, and conflicting media reports. We still do not know the truth of why President Biden dropped out of the presidential race. Perhaps the most cogent current example is whether the nuclear program in Iran is for peaceful civilian energy programs or genocidal weaponization. The wrong conclusion is likely to be devastating to the general health and mental health of all affected.

Another health example of the importance of the truth is what is available for the treatment of our mental health needs in the United States. For-profit managed care and the overriding value of business profits tends to hide from the pubic why certain treatments are not available.³

Psychiatry should be able to help assess how truth is found. We do it with our patients, especially those traumatized and often must try to distinguish between false memories and true memories. Important information can be hidden in our minds by different means: denial, dissociation, dementia, wish fulfillment, education, and perhaps even past lives as we will be discussing, among the mechanisms. Finding the right time to convey the right information is essential for the best patient care and democratic sharing of information.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.

References

1. Causey JE. Americans need transformative talks on race. Juneteenth is the space for that. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. June 3, 2025. Accessed June 19, 2025. https://www.yahoo.com/news/americans-transformative-talks-race-juneteenth-100240561.html

2. Metzl J. The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease. Beacon Press; 2011.

3. Moffic HS. The Ethical Way: Challenges and Solutions for Managed Behavioral Healthcare. Jossey-Bass; 1997.