Juneteenth
Hi Friends!
Welcome to Issue 33 of this newsletter! Today we are focusing on Juneteenth, which just became national holiday this week. Juneteenth is an incredibly meaningful moment because enslaved people longed for freedom for generations, and Juneteenth represents that liberation. While many Black Americans have celebrated Juneteenth for their entire lifetime, there are definitely those that learned about this holiday later in life because it isn’t discussed in most curriculums and was not a national holiday. For most white Americans, Juneteenth is brand new. In this newsletter, I’ll discuss the history of Juneteenth, and encourage you to watch the clip below. I also want to encourage you to celebrate this holiday appropriately. This holiday may not be for you, and that’s okay. While it was so easy to pass it through senate and get Juneteenth approved on a national scale, it continues to be difficult for Black people to get their basic freedoms guaranteed. This Juneteenth is a great time to consider how you, as an ally, can help to achieve that. Let’s get into it!
Let’s Get Into It
A Brief History
Juneteenth marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control and ensure that all enslaved people be freed.
The Emancipation Proclamation was signed, after a very bloody civil war, in 1862 (over two years prior), making chattel slavery illegal, but the United States was still in a vulnerable position, with the south having succeeded, and President Lincoln’s policies had to be enforced through federal soldiers.
General Order No.3 lead to 4 million newly freed Black Americans and they found themselves a very hostile, racist society.
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.” - General Order No.3
The military stepped in to ensure Black Americans received food, medical care and were protected from violence. When they left the south, it was a signal to southerners that the Federal Government would not protect the rights of Black people. Black folks were lynched and brutalized with impunity. There is still no anti-lynching law in America today.
There has always been constant, random, racist violence inflicted on Black people in this country and it continues today.
Juneteenth honors the end of slavery while also acknowledging that Black Americans continue to be marginalized and disenfranchised
This year, the senate unanimously passed a bill making Juneteenth a national holiday.
Juneteenth
As an ally to the Black community, Juneteenth should be a moment of reflection, contemplation, un-learning and reevaluating. Only 156 years ago troops marched into Texas. Still today, Black Americans are policed, villainized, disenfranchised and subjected to violence. Still today, schools around our nation are banned from teaching critical race theory. Still today, police benefit from qualified immunity, the same police who began as slave catchers. And today, jails will be closed on Juneteenth to celebrate its first year as a national holiday, as an overwhelming number of Black bodies sit in cages. So if this Juneteenth you have the day off of work, use it to amplify this message, to learn this history, to reflect on how a system that exploits Black humans has built your America.
As for my Black siblings this Juneteenth, you know what to do. Whatever you want. Whether that means kicking back at a family BBQ or taking a nap. It might mean showing up for a full day of work like you always do—since we know Black workers make up the largest percentage of front-line workers in America and will most likely not receive a day off on this national holiday. Feel however you want to feel, and do whatever you need to do this Juneteenth.
Next week, we wrap up June chatting about Pride Month and then circle back to our series on Stereotypes. I’ll see you there!
