Juneteenth

Freedom. A joy that many of us share today. The ability to choose. The power to act. To speak. To be.

It is that very thing that many have been and are being denied.

July 4, 1776 — Independence Day. Coincidentally, it was the same year that the institution of human chattel slavery was made legal. Ships were sent to AFRICA where people who were not for sale were purchased, chained, and stuffed in the bottom of ships. Stacked on top of one another, many died of hunger, thirst, and disease on the way. Others were beaten to death, while those dubbed as cargo were made to watch. Some were chained together and tossed into the sea.

The dehumanization of a human being is an exact science, the execution of which has been perfected by those without conscience.

Here we stand on ground that has been baptized in the blood of those that came before us. Those that did not understand, but accepted and found a way to survive, and those whose hearts are filled with hate and either could not or would not learn how to love.

The Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that as of January 1, 1863, “all enslaved people in the states currently engaged in rebellion against the Union ‘shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.’”

The Civil War ended on May 9, 1865, but black people in Galveston, Texas were not notified of their freedom until June 19 of that year. It took time for the news to spread, they say.

Time.

Imagine, all you can think about is your freedom and what you would do with it. All you have ever known is labor without pay, service without gratitude. You have been told over and over and over and over again how worthless you are. You have seen families torn apart, your friends beaten, you have been beaten, and are degraded and denigrated daily. Imagine the effect that has on a man who desperately wants to provide and protect his family but cannot. Or a woman who wants to serve and protect her family but cannot. Imagine the effect that time has on the mind. The steady and deliberate twisting of facts. To be told you are an animal and be enraged in such a way that you become one.

Am I talking about our prison system or slavery?

Once notified of their freedom, rejoicing began. The year of Jubilee, it’s been called. While freedom was law, we know that laws do not change the hearts and minds of people. While formerly enslaved people walked free and celebrated their newfound joy, they also found that provisions for their freedom had not been made.

So ensues the question. What shall be done with the Negros?

Juneteenth is not the beginning of the struggle. It is a part of the struggle that began the first time two men shook hands in agreement to purchase that which was not for sale.

Slavery was over but discrimination was not. So began the exploitation of black labor. Hundreds of thousands of men were convicted of petty or nonexistent crimes to work for white men and continue the building and advancement of this country.

Segregation. Jim Crow. The three-fifths compromise. And during the civil rights movement, where we saw the United States government organize the assassination of Black leaders. Were these tactics any different than those employed by the men who enslaved the very first Africans?

Slavery is not a new concept but an old one that evil men have mastered with time.

Freedom. Who has the right to tell a man that he is not free? And then after he has taken that which is not his to take, return it, and celebrate himself?