We have a new federal holiday, Juneteenth.

Essentially, the day commemorates the end of slavery for ethnic persons of color and future business for persons of that heritage.

Watching televised broadcasts brought confusion, though, since some elected officials voted against it.

Why?

When I was a young adult, a college professor spoke about the day black persons discovered they were no longer slaves, though they hadn’t been since the Emancipation Proclamation.

This week, the proclamation came to pass, with celebrations across the nation.

I look back into my own childhood, when my great-grandfather was listed as “indentured.”

A photo showed him in bib overalls and listed him as “white.”

The people who had hauled him out of some war wreckage saw themselves as people of good will.

That, however, wasn’t accurate.

He ended up enlisting in the Union forces, fighting hand and fist and being taken prisoner at Ft. Sumpter (Andersonville).

My grandfather, his son, mentioned his dad’s stature as a servant periodically.

Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and the people sought some sort of meaning across the Union.

As my family tried to discuss the changes as the old heir doddered along as a person at the Soldiers and Saviors Home near Monte Vista, people received benefits as veterans.

It was — is — all it should be.

We have Juneteenth, July 4, Veterans Day, time to honor the elders.

My great-grandfather lies beneath the soil at Homelake, with a buddy alongside him and the multitudinous men and women celebrate Juneteenth with honor.

Missing is the respect that began during the American Civil War and before that, when a young fellow was an indentured servant to people who made him earn his keep.

Race, creed and color have brought us to this week and history will bring this nation to freedom.

To quote the late Yogi Berra: It is what it is.