America’s second independence day I thought this was a nice thought for this holiday: There are little joys to be found in overheard conversations, like this recent gem on an Acela train. A couple of young professional dude-bros sat behind me and were discussing why they couldn’t reschedule something for the 19th of June. “Because it’s Juneteenth — we get it off this year,” one said. And after a beat or two too long, the other replied, “Oh yeah. What’s it for anyways? Like, I know for Black people but …” The first gave a pitying chuckle and returned with, “It’s when America freed the slaves” — followed by an incredulous, “C’mon man.” I mean, well, yes. Juneteenth commemorates the day when — more than two months after Robert E. Lee’s surrender to Ulysses S. Grant and more than two years after Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation — a Union army finally reached South Texas with news of emancipation. But I was far less interested in historical accuracy than I was in the fact that these two guys were having a casual Juneteenth civics conversation. Five years ago, that exchange would’ve been unimaginable. Most Americans had little clue what Juneteenth was until it became a federal holiday in 2021. The newness of the holiday for much of the country means that there’s no shared set of traditions associated with it yet. Without ritual and mythology, things do not stick to the culture. We need to decide what the holiday will mean for us and…