Speaking & Teaching

I wonder if our black communities do more harm than good when we celebrate Juneteeth. First off if the celebration had originated in a state like say Michigan, Illinois then maybe it would be a healthy celebration of emancipation. But Juneteeth coming from an arch confederate state like Texas makes this June 19, 1865 date of supposed emancipation of enslaved Black Americans a date not of celebration. Why? Because within a decade plus two years, Black Emancipation ended with the termination of Black Reconstruction with the Compromise of 1877. This compromise which allowed the former confederate states especially Texas to renege on ever constitutional right that our Black Americans supposedly secured with the Civil Right Amendments. The state of Texas lead the way with the indoctrination of every conceivable way to wrestle away the black residents constitutional rights. White Texans did this through acts of terror which included the lynching and burning alive of our black ancestors. I mean how could Juneteenth even have any validity if on June 19, 1877 rather than beef being cooked on the spic a black body was being burned alive for the enjoyment of the whites in Texas? Also, how could you celebrate emancipation rights where the rights that the Constitution supposedly gave you were being ignored on every border of the State of Texas as well as most of the United States? How? What about the supposed end of the slavery that was celebrated on June 19, 1865? Did it truly end? When the Union Troops left states like Texas along with the end of the Freedman’s Bureau what protections did our Black Americans have? I mean in a sense a worser form of slavery was implemented, one that now gave our black ancestors bodies no economic value like that peculiar institution did. So their bodies were disposed of without any remorse and those same bodies were worked to death across the southern states including Texas. You think you could celebrate freedom when you as a black man, woman, or child was caught in the cycle of Jim Crow slavery? You think when you as a black American couldn’t get an education at a school for more than 3 months a year you could celebrate Juneteeth? You think you could celebrate emancipation when the white night riders decided to target your family for publicly declaring that you were seeking equality of rights? I mean I love a party just like any other person but Field Order 3 delivered on June 19, 1865 by Union General Granger to the black communities in Galveston, Texas was not the cause for celebration it only foretold that the real struggle for black equality was just starting. This country loves to support our causes for symbolism and Juneteenth is indeed a symbol not of emancipation but of continued oppression. Oppression, yes, oppression and slavery and a more virulent form. I also feel that we shouldn’t be celebrating Juneteeth because our ancestors promises made in 1865 have yet to be delivered. When you celebrate broken promises you may believe that those promises have been kept. How can you celebrate Juneteenth when the original Field Order 15 which supposedly gave us 40 acres and some semblance of ownership in the American dream was ignored? What did Field Order 3 give Black Americans, surely it was emancipation, nor to it even mention personal ownership of the American Dream.