Wednesday June 17th 2020 New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order declaring Juneteenth a paid holiday for state employees, and committed to advance legislation that would make Juneteenth an official holiday in the state of New York for everyone in 2021. Thank you Governor Cuomo!
Juneteenth is the true celebration of Freedom in this country. Just in case people are unaware, on July 4th 1776 the day America declared its freedom from British rule, Blacks in this country were still SLAVES. Read that again if it didn’t sink in the first time. My ancestors were not free on the Fourth of July, so how can we in good conscious celebrate that day. On that day my ancestors were still picking cotton, being raped, getting sold on the auction block, being killed and hunted, being beat, and serving their masters.
June 19th 1965 was the day when the last slaves held in captivity in Texas learned that they were indeed free. On September 22nd 1862 (during the civil war) President Lincoln signed to Emancipation Proclamation which would grant slaves their freedom. For nearly two years Slaves in this country were free but because they could not read or write or have access to outside influence, remained in captivity by their masters who knew that they had been granted their freesom, DID YOU READ THAT SHIT??!! I mean how fucking disgusting can you be. Ok I digress…
Slave owners in this country didn’t just give slaves their freedom. An army had to go to Galveston Texas and occupy it in order to free those last remaining slaves. This moment didn’t completely free us because over the next 400 years African Americans had to endure, lynchings, the burning of their churches, segregation, wage theft, inadequate education, substandard housing, and limited access to healthcare, and systemic racism. The sad thing here is that these are all issues that black communities continue to deal with today in the 21st Century.
In order for this country to right it’s wrongs, it must first admit that the wrongs exist. For too long this country has ignored the history of its Black citizens. We are not adequately taught African American History in school because no one likes to talk about slavery. That is at the root cause of the disenfranchisement that Black people have suffered in this country. If WE don’t know where we came from how do we know where we are going. And when I say “we” I mean blacks, whites, EVERYONE. We only learn about black history during Black History Month, February (the shortest month of the year). Our history books should reflect with grave detail this country’s greatest sin. SLAVERY. Not… Christopher Columbus, Slavery, Civil War, then everyone was happy. What the fuck is that??!! Our history books should tell the stories of Phyllis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Zora Neale Hurston, and countless others.
But it should also talk about Black Wall Street and the riots in Tulsa Oklahoma, where an entire community of Black People were overtaken by whites based on a lie by a white woman claiming to have been raped by a black man. That is our history here in this country and these stories should be told far and wide.
Today we celebrate Freedom! Today we celebrate freedom from chains, but we continue to fight for a fair, equitable, and just society. Juneteenth! 👊🏾❤️🖤💚
Zen Culture 