Juneteenth has been a federal holiday for one year, and already it’s become a branding opportunity. Ice cream tubs. T-shirts. Party favors. Corporate statements drafted by interns who couldn’t tell you the difference between Galveston and Gettysburg.

Freedom, repackaged with sprinkles. Emancipation, reduced to a “buy one, get one free.” A holiday marking the end of slavery turned into shelf space between barbecue sauce and balloons.

America’s gift is its ability to commercialize anything. America’s curse is the exact same thing.

The holiday’s true weight isn’t in aisles or hashtags. It’s in wages, schools, hospitals, courtrooms. Until freedom exists there, the merch is just noise.