Juneteenth Eve

https://futureinsight.org/blog-and-news/juneteenth/

I was vaguely aware of Juneteenth; emphasis on vaguely.  I knew it referred to a day, maybe all the days, in the teens of June, June 13 – 19.  If I had to guess one, I would have guessed June 19^th.   It would have been a good guess but a guess, nonetheless.

I did know it was a black thing… a black day of some kind.

I never really paid much attention to it, until today.  This year of pandemic and, more recently, the year of truly trying to face and solve racism in this country.  It is making this Juneteenth more important than ever.

What then is Juneteenth?  Why is it important?  Why are some businesses and organization closing at noon tomorrow in honor of it?  Why are others, such as GM, taking an 8:46 minute, the amount of time George Floyd had a knee on his neck, pause of silence?

 

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.  Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.  ~ Juneteenth.com

 

I did not know.  I should have known.  I feel ignorant and naïve.  I definitely feel more ignorant than naïve.  I feel like I am, in fact, living up to the stereotype of being a white male in his sixties who is a beneficiary of white privilege.  It is a most uncomfortable feeling.

I see all the discussions, posts, and articles of Black Lives Matter vs. All Lives Matter and statistics of police killing Black people vs. police killed by Black people and Black people killing Black people.  I understand the perspectives on either sides of the ‘vs.’ in both cases.  And, where am I?  Naturally, to any reader of this blog, I am in the middle.  Not being fully in either camp, both camps accuse me of being in the other.  I am a bigoted racist pig and socialist liberal whack job at the same time.  I am used to most everyone telling me I am wrong.

I am seeing food companies changing the branding of Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben’s, Cream of Wheat, and Mrs. Buttersworth all saying that they will be rebranding their products to eliminate the racial caricatures.  These companies are all doing the right thing.  And they are doing the right thing to protect their sales and maybe even a chance to rebrand and increase sales.  I see that some folks are lamenting the changes to these iconic brands.  Me?  I could care less.  They are products.  Products come and go.  This grand gesture is probably long overdue.  Do I relate to the loss of brand images I have known all my life?  Not one little bit.  Brands are always changing, refreshing themselves, and such to increase sales and consumption.  These changes by large corporations are for those very reasons.  The hilarious thing to me in this regard was that, until today, I thought Mrs. Buttersworth was… white.

Juneteenth should be observed.  I should observe it and will be much more mindful of it moving forward.  It marks the official end of the abhorrent era of slavery in this country.  We are still dealing with the consequences of that horrible part of our history.  My observing it starts with this post.  Tomorrow, I will take 8:46 minutes to reflect and pray. 

Peaceful people have been protesting to finally end the discrimination, the bigotry, and racism that hangs over us.   I surely hope and pray we can.