Rally to celebrate Juneteenth.
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Happy Juneteenth!
Today outlines the importance of this holiday and why it has garnered so much attention this year. It also highlights why celebrating it is not enough to repair the harm created against Black people after years of slavery. We'll pick up a part two on this topic next week.
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– Nicole
TAKE ACTION
1. Sign this petition to make Juneteenth a federally recognized holiday. This petition was created in 2019 by Opal Lee, a 93-year-old activist.
2. Tell your company to make Juneteenth a paid holiday. If your company already has, upload their information here.
3. Reflect: Who was alive in your family when Juneteenth happened? How many generations ago was that?
GET EDUCATED
Juneteenth deserves recognition.
Today, June 19th, marks the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day. It marks the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and brought news that slavery had been abolished more than two years earlier.
History books have taught us that the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, was the day that slavery was abolished. But the Emancipation Proclamation was more of a military strategy. By proclaiming that all enslaved people in the states that made up the Confederacy were free, he made it clear where the North stood against the Confederacy's goals, dissuaded Britain and France from aligning with the Southern states (because they opposed slavery), and encouraged Black Americans to serve in the Union Army.
But remember that during this we were in the midst of the Civil War, and states seceding from the Union, like Texas, weren't really interested in what the North had to say. Texas actually had states laws that made freeing slaves illegal. It wasn't until the North sent some troops to carry out freedom across the state in person for rules to change, which means that Emancipation Days are different for different cities in the state.
You can hear Laura Smalley, who was enslaved as a child on this day, talk about what it felt like to hear the announcement here.
But the celebrations in Galveston, TX have become symbolic in our country, rising to prominence in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, gaining more attention on its 150th anniversary, and rising with the reckoning of our generation. This year many brands are making it a paid holiday, and 47 states mark it as a state holiday. Legislation is currently underway to make it a national holiday. The facts and figures here >
“When they celebrated July 4, Independence Day, Black people weren’t free or independent.”
Donald Payton, Historian
But we are still not free.
Nope. Juneteenth didn't officially slavery for everyone. In That didn't happen until the 13th Amendment went into effect in December 1865, which stated that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
And see those words "except as a punishment for crime"? If you reflect back to our conversations on cash bail and defunding the police, you may notice how our criminal justice system is still unfairly placing Black people in involuntary servitude. But I digress...
But let's say that Juneteenth DID make everyone immediately, 100% free. Free does not mean equal. Enslaved people were no longer enslaved. It did NOT mean we had a right to bear arms, or vote, to work, or go to school, or marry someone outside or race, or own land. It gave us our freedom but none of our rights. So remember that Juneteenth only happened 155 years ago. And Black people have been fighting for their rights to what white Americans have been granted since the Independence Day we still celebrate today.
Making Juneteenth official alone doesn't do that. It has meaning, but can easily become an optical form of solidarity if we don't keep pushing for the reform necessary to truly ensure this country gives Black people the dignity and respect they deserve. You'll start hearing more conversations around reparations this weekend as Juneteenth unfolds, so keep an ear out – we'll be focusing on this Monday.
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