When did you first hear about the celebration of “Juneteenth”?
This is not a trick question or a question intended to make you feel uneducated, but the truth is that some people just heard about Juneteenth for the first time this month…in 2020.
Now put into your mind that you are an enslaved Black person and could have been free before today, if anyone had told you.
In fact, white people not only didn’t tell you but also had a long history of teaching you that you were enslaved because you were not worthy of anything other than being enslaved. They didn’t see fit to teach you to read, or allow you to have decent food or housing, or pay you for your labor, or protect your family, or preserve your African culture and heritage. They didn’t have to tell you anything, last of all the good news that would have a negative effect on their own livelihood and security, which was tied directly to your stolen labor and continued exploitation. You weren’t a person. You were property.
So when the good news finally came in 1865 more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, enslaved Black people rejoiced! Freedom!
And now, 155 years laters, we join that celebration.
For some of us, especially white people, the knowledge of this celebration is new and we wonder why we were never taught about this crucial moment in our national history. For some Black people, the tradition has been passed down through the generations. Yet all of us continue the celebration knowing that Black people, the descendants of those enslaved African people, still suffer the burdens and consequences of generations of slavery, Jim Crow, and ongoing systemic racism that manifest in myriad ways- such as police brutality and disparate heath outcomes during a pandemic.
Our collective consciousness has been awakened by this undeniable truth, which has been captured on cell phone videos played incessantly on social media, chanted in the streets by protesters, and felt in the everyday weariness of standing in line at the food bank or waiting anxiously for an unemployment check to arrive.
The truth is that Black people still are not free, despite the Emancipation Proclamation, despite Juneteenth, despite the Civil Rights Movement, and despite having the first Black president.
One of the best ways we can properly honor Juneteenth is by learning our real American history. As we educate ourselves on the the past and make connections to the present, we must deepen our vows to fight racism, slavery, and oppression everywhere- worldwide and right next door in the places where we live in Connecticut.
Please take some time to look into these helpful resources for learning more about Juneteenth and the ongoing impacts of anti-Black racism from the experiences and perspectives of Black activists, artists and scholars:
What is Juneteenth?, by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community, the last book by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
13th, a documentary by Ava DuVernay about the 13th Amendment, justice, and mass incarceration
1619, a podcast hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones about how slavery transformed America
The speeches of Angela Davis, political activist and philosopher
The Movement for Black Lives, policy platforms to lift up Black lives
We will soon face a reckoning as we look to our future and embrace the challenge of creating a new way of living together that honors the humanity of all of us. The work to build an inclusive and equitable nation continues and PoliticaCT reaffirms its commitment to that work as a crucial part of our mission for women to support women in the political world.
Will you join us?