Juneteenth
is a reminder
not just
of the commemoration
of the Emancipation
Proclamation,
ending slavery
at the end
of The Confederacy,
but
of African
American
History
itself.
The first
Juneteenth
ended the horror
and sought
to honor
the new freedom
from enslavement.
But derangement
followed
as Jim Crow
swallowed
The South.
The Great Migration
still meant
segregation
for decades
until Civil Rights
advocates
political,
social,
educational,
and economic
freedoms
as whites
had always
had.
The attention
to celebration
of the Emancipation
Proclamation
was not
yet seen
on the American
scene
as an American
holiday
for the country.
Willfull
ignorance
maintains
intolerance,
though
we like
to maintain
the pretense
of innocence.
Black history
is not
just February
or Kwanzaa
or MLK
Day.
The 1619
Project
is not
about
white
feelings.
Diversity.
Equity.
Inclusion.
These are
now regarded
by some
as the exclusion
of fairness
in the world
of white
expectation.
The critics
of Critical
Race Theory
have a different
theory
than the actuality
of CRT.
Who stole
history
from whom?
The American
womb
gave birth
twice;
birthdays
we now
celebrate:
July 4th
and Juneteenth,
both days
of observance
of independence.
We still
struggle
with freedom,
racism,
and even
imperialism.
Juneteenth’s
immediacy
connects
the history
to today
in a way
that few
other
observances
do.
So observe
and celebrate
this date
with no
number,
and stay
awake
to the umpteenth
number
of ways
in which
distortions
and lies
compromise
all of us.
lou sight 