Juneteenth – June 19th, 1865

Two and a half years, Americans were left toiling, unlawfully – like slaves.  30 months in a timeless zone of what they knew; what they were.  Extracted and uprooted by the thousands, for this very purpose, to Western Texas, far from justice and away from humanity.  But for now, forget the ones that survived, for some died not knowing they were free, not knowing their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren have survived their plight.

On June 19^th, 1865, the Union soldiers finally reached Galveston, Texas.  Led by General Gordon Granger, he delivered the news that the war was finally over and with it, a Proclamation stating, “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”  This brought forth immediate shock and jubilation.  And before he could continue, “this involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer,” the recipients of this information had dropped hoes, clicked heels, jumped fences and were bound not to somewhere but away from the past.

As a nation, we celebrate July 4^th as our independence, freedom, from the rule of Britain, but it’s this date in 1865 that signifies the true freedom of our nation.  A unification of all its inhabitants sealed with hope, desire and a future that can be formed through equality.  This was a moment of reset; a true cause of celebration because America chose a path of justice and right-ism.

Us Black Americans look back through history, searching for something to grasp, something to make us feel like an American.  And it’s tough.  We see slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, racist policies, the injustice system, the police states, inequality in finances, housing and education, the Tuskegee Experiment, J. Edgar Hoover, southern monuments, racist epithets, etc. and again, it’s tough (to feel like an American).  We desire that same pride we each feel when checking that box “Black or African-American” as we do with just being an American, but this country’s sinful past hangs our heads, not shamefully but with an embarrassment of the legacy this country begat.

Racism is an offshoot of slavery.  A tremendous stain on America that has yet to be cleansed away but on that June 19^th, there was a collective sigh, regardless of how it came about, where we could look at the heavens and know what this country did was right.  No past, no future, just the present.  And in that moment there was a weakness of thought. And without thought, instinct kicks in and once that Proclamation was delivered, in that moment, America was truly free.

It took a fight, a bloody fight, to end that aforementioned malady.  Many deaths ignorant if their efforts were in vain.  Thousands of lives lost and infinitely more altered – all with the hopes of one day fully celebrating the nations’s national holiday.  Without a June 19^th, 1965, there can be no July 4^th.  Forget for a moment the inequalities that still exist, the least we can agree upon is that no American, no human for that matter, should be in bondage.

We still have a long way to go and with no immediate plan to truly eradicate racism, the future does not look promising.  In fact, some say we’re headed in the wrong direction, back to the past of that pre-existing condition.  And it’s scary.  Scary that that Civil War has now transformed from a Battle between the States to a conflict between capitalism and social justice.  There’s no prediction for this war’s Juneteenth but if there’s any hope of history repeating itself, positively, that day would soon come.  The past always repeats itself so many Black Americans celebrate yearly, that sigh, that feeling, channeling the joy of our ancestors and playing host to its current, conducing it into a new day of reckoning.  We do smile a little brighter on June 19^th (Juneteenth), if only to imagine the joy on the faces of those Black Americans when those Union troops told them to, “put down those hoes, you’re free.”  And then the chastisement of those (slave) holders with, “you ought to be ashamed of yourselves.”  And yes, there are still many discrepancies within this American system and its true commitment to equality is still a question but, to travel back to Texas, June 19^th, 1865 all Americans should have full admiration for our government, for it, then, chose the right path and put forth great effort to equalize ALL it’s citizens.  Risking the future of a torn and beaten nation; a nation of uncertainty humbly knowing that if it were to succeed, it must succeed as one.