For the majority of my life, I had no knowledge of today's holiday. When I first heard of Juneteenth, I thought it was a made up holiday celebrated only by a few, niche fans. When I actually learned what Juneteenth celebrated, I was quickly sobered. This was a piece of history that was never mentioned in my twelve years of public schooling.
For those who have yet to learn of this holiday celebrating liberation, here is a brief synopsis: In September of 1862, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free" as of January 1, 1863. This was more of a publicity stunt than an actual bid at freedom for all. Lincoln knew that the states within the confederacy would resist and refuse to abide by the proclamation, and he had no power to enforce it. He wanted to unify the Union behind the idea that slavery would be abolished, even though slaves within the northern states were still not yet guaranteed freedom.
Over the course of the next two years, the civil war continued to rage, and on April 9, 1865, the battles ended with the surrender of the confederate's General Lee. For the next few months, northern troops marched through the south, ravaging what infrastructure still remained. The state of Texas was one of the last states to be occupied by Union troops. On June 19, 1865, slaves were notified that President Lincoln had emancipated them more than two years ago. The day has since been celebrated by marginalized groups and descendants of former slaves as a day of liberation and freedom.
Junteenth is a day that should be celebrated by all who claim to love this country. Our founding documents are evidence of this. In the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified on July 4th, 1776 and is perhaps the largest holiday that we celebrate in this country, states "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." In the Preamble to the Constitution, the writers declare that the purpose of creating this government is to "secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity."
Any casual observer of history can recognize that since the ratification of the Declaration of Independence, the United States has been less than perfect at truly upholding all of the parts of these founding documents. To me, each step we take as a country into upholding the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to more and more formerly excluded groups deserves celebration. Perhaps, we should consider leaving our former days of celebration in favor of new days. This might help us realize the progress we have made, and how far we have yet to go.
The protests of the last four weeks have made the disparages that still exist in our society blatantly clear. I am going to employ the aid of a few graphics to help explain the way our society, and many others, disproportionately affect communities of minorities and the underprivileged.
This graphic shows the disparity between the black and white American experience. Even though we are closing the privilege gap between these two groups, the history of this gap has put black individuals far behind.
I love this graphic because it explains the differences in privilege that are so pervasive in society, yet are so difficult to see and understand. For a vast majority of the 400 years since slavery started in America, black individuals and other minority groups have vastly experience inequality. With the emancipation proclamation, followed by the the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, moved the needle to equality. Many people thought that this was the end of the line. Equality was the goal and equality had been achieved. But as the graphic shows, equality is not always fair. In some places, "Jim Crow" laws were even instituted which pulled the needle away from equality back towards inequality. Those laws have since been struck in various Supreme Court decisions, such as Brown v. Board of Education. There are very few places have made efforts to push their communities towards equity, at least as far as I can see. I am hopeful that we can progress towards an equitable future, and then hopefully that will lead us to a truly just society.
This is another good graphic to describe the differences in privilege that exist in society. I especially like how this one includes "reality" and "liberation." The thing that the opportunity centered around in the last image was a fruit tree, which represented access to goods and services. The thing that this image centers on is the fence, which could represent barriers to opportunity. In the panel portraying "reality," two of the three individuals are not impeded from enjoying the baseball game by this barrier. They may be inclined to think that the third individual cannot enjoy the game due to their own shortcomings or laziness when in actuality, they simply do not at the tools necessary to overcome the barrier. You can see that "equality" is not much better for the third individual. In the "equity" panel, we see that all three individuals finally have the tools necessary to enjoy the game together. In the fourth panel, we learn that the tools of equity are unnecessary when the fence is simply removed. I believe that it is unlikely that we will be able to remove that barrier any time soon, but I am hopeful that we will be able to provide the tools necessary to achieve equity soon.
Our country has a rich history of fighting for what is right. The forefront of racial and societal justice is no place to shun from that fight. In fact, to fight to ensure the rights and the American dream of people who have yet to be able to attain them may be the most noble fight of all.
Thanks for reading.
"You cannot separate peace from freedom, because no one can be at peace unless they have their freedom." -Malcolm X