By Paul McGowan From PS Audio

On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.” A brave beginning to a tough problem.

On June 19th—or as the holiday has come to be known, Juneteenth—acknowledges when US Major General Gordon Granger, along with more than 1,800 federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to take control of the state, and ensure freedom for the last remaining slaves in the area. Finally, our war-torn nation could begin the long process of healing.

While this was a major milestone in our country, the legacy of slavery and racism still permeate our culture. It is unfortunate that it took the recent tragedies to bring this holiday to the forefront of our minds, but we are committed to keeping it at the forefront. PS Audio will close for the day and will treat this as a paid holiday for our staff in order to look deeply into ourselves as a company and as individuals to better understand how we can be agents of change in the fight for racial equality.

I hope you will take 30 seconds out of your busy day, as we will, to reflect upon the words of an earlier document signed by our founders on July 4th, 1776.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.