With Juneteenth, our nation now acknowledges that, in Texas, enslaved people toiled for two-and-half years after they were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. Hostages still held by enslavers, many of whom fought to the death maintain that institution, were finally told they were free by Union soldiers after the Civil War had ended.
Never believe the Civil War wasn’t about forced enslaved labor.
And never underestimate the ability of certain people to assume they are above the law, beyond the law, and still cry bitter, angry tears when the law catches up to them.
I am glad that Juneteenth is now commemorated with a federal holiday, apparently due to the hard work of Ms. Opal Lee, because we learn about the things we make federal holidays until rote, until they are ingrained inside us.
Because this is something everyone should know by heart. That people who never should have been enslaved were free, but enslavers imprisoned them for 2.5 years, with no intention of following the law.
You’ll note I haven’t said “Happy Juneteenth,” and that’s because I’m not sure it’s my greeting to give.
Because the part I get stuck in with this holiday is those 2.5 years. The part I get stuck in is the monolith of time before that when people decided it was OK to kidnap and torture and abuse and treat people like property, even when others AT THE TIME knew it was abhorrent.
Others. AT THE TIME.
I think for many of us, this day should mark a reflection on the depths of evil in the human spirit, on how people find ways to justify it, to excuse it, to twistedly claim it’s “moral.” What happened before can happen again, and there is only us to stop it. All the wrongs of the past have not been righted.
Take a moment today to pay honor to all the souls who spent their lives in terrible bondage. To condemn the people who put them there and kept them there.
Especially for those 2.5 years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Have a great Monday.
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