The Nineteenth of June
Some days are just quite special
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news... Isaiah 52:7-
President Biden mentioned slavery as a stain on our history. Some will see it as a stain on the whole country, others as the only stain, and others as a stain on only our country. None of those views are accurate. Uncle Sam’s clothes have more smears, tears, and stains than if he had been sleeping off a bender in a dumpster.
Of course, it wasn’t all of us or only us. We were only a small part of a huge international horror. Yes, I know I’m flirting with heresy, speaking from what I know rather than reading from the script, but hey, that’s 21st-century intellectual authoritarianism. There’s no avoiding it.
Sure, I would like to see more holidays, whether or not they involve schools, banks, stock exchanges and the post office. Our nation has taken many steps and passed many milestones that should be commemorated. Perhaps there will be such in the future if we discontinue soiling the national pants regarding civil rights and democracy for all.
We have to expect that even holidays commemorating momentous events like the end of the Civil War or other wars. In this case, the USA, will degenerate into celebrations of beer, hamburgers, and the corporations that provide them.
June the Nineteenth, however, was the day the word arrived in faraway Texas. The word that abolition was no longer an unfulfilled goal and liberty, no longer a lie, means something. How beautiful that is.
Now, can we just go back to calling it June Nineteenth? :-)
About the Author: Professor Mike is a retired police executive with a doctorate. He teaches at his local university because he is too old to do anything else. He writes at MadMikesAmerica, Substack, and Medium.
