Juneteenth

For the rest of America Independence Day is the Fourth of July, but for Black America our Independence Day is June 19th, 1865, more commonly known as Juneteenth.

Juneteenth is the day that African Americans were finally liberated from the confines of slavery. It has been 158 years since Juneteenth first arrived and examples of that legacy have taken place every single day since. Slavery was Black America’s holocaust. For centuries African Americans were regarded as less than human beings and even cattle living in the bondage of slavery. This existence of forced servitude was accompanied by beatings, torture, rape and murder. Some were able to escape, but most did not. It wasn’t until June 19, 1865 that our first degree of liberation would arrive.

On June 19th, 1865 Union army general Gordon Granger issued the American legal decree known as General Order no. 3 into effect in Galveston, Texas. The order enforced president Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclimation on the entire Confederate states of America, freeing all the slaves of the territory. Though it was that day in 1865 that the Black American trail of freedom began, it is the ways both good and bad in which it continues that speaks louder volumes.

African Americans have come a long way since Juneteenth, unfortunately many of those ways never strayed far from the conditions that made Juneteenth necessary to begin with. Though Blacks were physically free that day a new uphill battle for equality began right after. We were given our freedom on June 19th 1865, but by June 20th we still did not have justice and equality. It would be another century before African Americans would have the freedom to vote, so even after being liberated our freedoms were still only conditional. Fighting to have that freedom be unconditional came at a heavy price. Countless soldiers of all races lost their lives in the civil rights war for the right to vote, this was a testament to how the world of slavery was still alive and well.

A lack of equality was not the only void of freedom that accompanied the aftermath of Juneteenth, but also a lack of justice. Immediately following the emancipation of slaves the most notorious hate group in American history was born, the Ku Klux Klan. This group was notorious for using harassment and murderous bloodshed as weapons of intimidation to control the Black population of the country, it was clear that since they could no longer control us with physical bondage they decided fear was a preferred second choice. Many groups like this still exist today to keep that same spirit. Of course you can’t forget the rogue side of law enforcement and the justice system when you talk about a lack of justice. The wrongful deaths and incarcerations at the hand of the justice system are perhaps the most clear present-day examples of the attempts to keep the pre-Juneteenth America alive.

One could go on forever about the negative examples of why Juneteenth is so significant, but there are way too many positive symbols of Juneteenth’s significance as well. Ever since that first day of freedom African Americans have become landowners, business owners and world leaders among other achievements. 143 years after Juneteenth the first Black president was elected, an achievement that many of our ancestors would have never thought was possible. Black Americans have taken back land that was used to anchor us as property and have turned them into oasis of prosperity.

Before Juneteenth part of the slave mentality was being trained to hate our fellow Black brothers and sisters to keep us from potentially banding together overcome our oppression. A lot of that is of course still around today, but I’m thankful to say that so is the opposite. Man African Americans have taken the wealth and good fortune that we have earned since June 19, 1865 to help each other and create pathways to better opportunities for one another, everything that our ancestors wanted. Juneteenth is not just a day, but a war for freedom that is still being fought, but as an African American I am proud of all the battles that we have won and I truly believe that we will continue to be victorious.

~~Dedicated to all of our African American ancestors who never lived to see the freedom of Juneteenth.