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“Free
at last, free at last,” exclaimed Dr. Martin Luther King on
the steps of, the “Great Emancipator”, Abraham Lincoln’s
Memorial during the apex of the Civil Rights movement in the
1960s. But as Malcolm X interjected, the rights of man and
woman or more than civil – they are human rights. The
enslaved citizens of Glaveston, Texas knew this best when
Major General Gordon Granger and his union soldiers arrived in
town on June 19th, 1965 – two full years after
President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation,
supposedly freeing all “slaves.”
KRS-One has an issue with term slave being
used at all, because “slave” denotes an active state of being,
as an inherent part of a person’s heritage and culture.
However, just as Europeans, Asians and Natives do, Africans
come from slavery and royalty, while simply assuming a
slave title indicates some level of accepted inferiority. In
respect of this point, I refer to U.S. Blacks of this era,
only as enslaved peoples. And these enslaved people of
Galveston were among the last Black or White people to know
that Blacks were set free in 1863.
As the story goes, Major General Granger and
his troops rode into Galveston amidst an awstruck and curious
crowd of townspeople. Then Granger dropped the bomb on’em
with these words. “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 rights and rights of property between former
masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing
between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.”
With his eloquent words, thangs changed. Before many former
masters could offer a deal for potential sharecroppers, many
Black Texans fled North, to Louisiana, Arkansas, and a place
where Blacks had always been welcome, Mexico.
There is much speculation as to
why the delay of freedom took so long. That point is neither
here nor there, given the history of the U.S., but one thing
is for sure: the ancestors did not delay or reserve their
jubilation and celebration in the streets of Galveston that
day. The recognition of freedom on this day came to be known
as “Juneteenth” and the only state sponsored (Texas) holiday
in the U.S. to recognize the abolition of slavery.
Although Juneteenth celebrations became scarce
just decades after its inception, one man led a resurgence to
recognize the day that was long overdue in the battle for
freedom. In 1980, Texas State Legislator Al Edwards succeeded
in campaigning for Juneteenth’s official state recognition and
after Texas recognized the day, the wildfire of freedom began
to rage.
Today Juneteenth is celebrated in much of the
United States, from festivals to schools and even in the belly
of the beast, prison. “It’s an important event that has been
going on for more than seven years”, says Seargent Major Al
Hill of the Monroe Correctional Complex in Monroe,
Washington. “Most of the inmates [and outmates for that
matter] don’t know about Juneteenth, so we hope it serves an
educational and cultural purpose for them.” The Juneteenth
prison program includes guest speakers, family visitors, a
special meal and in the past has featured a talented
jazz/blues band comprised of some of the inmates.
As one of the Juneteenth prison
program’s guest speakers I attended a celebration and can
recall a striking observation that another speaker, who was
addressing the crowd made. “You know, I’ve traveled through
much of the country and the most elaborate Juneteenth
celebrations that I have seen are here - in prisons. Think
about that.,” he said disappointedly. That is something to
think about – celebrating freedom as a prisoner. It’s too bad
some of us aren’t appreciating the freedom that our ancestors
died for, but choose to re-enslave ourselves as inmates.
Conversely, there are celebrations all over
the United States, outside of the walls and Seattle is not an
exception. The Seattle Juneteenth Festival takes place on
June 14-16, and Tacoma, Spokane, Pullman and Olympia are also
known to host events recognizing the day of freedom.
Juneteenth is the
definitive day of freedom for Blacks in the United States. It
is not the Fourth of July, as even after the self-proclaimed
day of independence the U.S. would maintain a government
endorsed system of slavery for almost another century.
Juneteenth acknowledges a day that freedom of the body and
mind is realized. However, even today in 2002, almost exactly
137 years after the U.S. began to live up to its promise of
being “the land of the free and the home of the brave”, some
of us exist without freedom of the mind and the courage to
take ownership in our communities. This means that we really
aren’t free. Get it right ya’ll! Celebrate and enjoy your
freedom and power to think, act and contribute to our
communities. Celebrate, enjoy and do your research about
Juneteenth. “Join the Jubilee!”
-Jose S.
Gutierrez Jr.
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