Knowing that America depended on centuries of the chattel slave system to become a world power, many people do recognize June 19th of each year as a day to celebrate the freedom of the first slaves in Texas 1865. The day is wildly undervalued as a time of recognition especially in comparison to other political holidays such as July 4th, Presidents’ Day and sadly, even Columbus’ Day. On June 19th why aren’t banks closed? Why do I still have to go to work? Why isn’t Juneteenth a time that everyone is forced to recognize, even if people aren’t fond of the meaning behind the celebration, at least recognizing it as a day of importance would bring the country a lot closer to Restoration.
There is Intention Behind the Abstention
The reason behind why Juneteenth is it not recognized is simple, it will force the country to address the horrors of slavery and as a result, force the government to pay African-American descendants of slaves some form of reparations and restitution. Retribution for African-American descendants of slaves would be a wildly expensive venture, not only in the cost to blacks but also in researching the number of people who descended from slaves, validating that information and even more controversially defining that group. If we look at the crimes to minority groups throughout American history there is a trend of many decades passing prior to any form of Retribution to the group or an even recognition of that group’s trauma. For example, in 1988, President Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act to compensate more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent who were incarcerated in internment camps during World War II. The legislation offered a formal apology and paid out $20,000 in compensation to each surviving. Japanese Concentration camps were operational from 1942 to 1945 and preparations were not paid for the 3 years of trauma to families until over two years later.
It’s been much longer than a couple of decades that blacks have been waiting in the United States for its government to right the wrongs of slavery. It’s been centuries and while small policy changes have been made like affirmative action bills that were passed in the mid 1960s. Policies like these do not directly affect African Americans. For example, of affirmative action Laws affect women African-Americans and other minority groups identically in Corporate America. It’s essential that in order to attempt to address the generational trauma that’s affected blacks through slavery that laws we put in place that directly affect the African American community in the same way that Jim Crow Laws and segregation did. When distributing retribution we must be intentional because the horrors of slavery intentionally directly affected African-Americans for centuries and still do so today. And While it’s fair to say that the horrors of slavery can never be truly repaid it is up to the country and its government to fulfill its role as an institution responsible for distributing services and maintaining the well-being of its population. It is the government’s responsibility to do the absolute best that it can to rectify wrongs that took place over the centuries of slavery, segregation, Jim Crow and the modern-day Jim Crow of mass incarceration and modern day slave system of prison-industrial complex. All of these have overwhelmingly affected blacks at a grossly alarming rate in comparison to other groups with state supervision being imposed on one in three black males.
Its More American than any Other Day
Juneteenth should be celebrated not only because it is solely one of the most impactful and influential American dates in history that changed the course of America and American life for every single person in society forever, Juneteenth should be recognized because it also dramatically transformed an institution that the American economy had been based off of which brought it to a dominant world power so quickly. The fact that the institution of slavery isn’t recognized at all for how it quickly propelled the very young country into the position of a world power is a blatant sign of ignorance and disrespect to the hundreds of thousands of people who lived, worked and died within the confines of slavery. Juneteenth should be recognized by a nation of people who are proud of their country’s progress away from race based chattel slavery. It should be celebrated by the most patriotic of those who believe that Americans made the right choice by freeing its first group of slaves in Texas in 1865. June 19th should be celebrated by those who actually see a spirit of vitality and perseverance in the American dream for equity and freedom for everyone. For Juneteenth not to be highlighted in every American calendar is a sign of national immaturity and government suppression of justice. There are a lot of things about this country that make African Americans feel like this is not our home, from cold-blooded police murders of our sons to real estate red lining our families and impoverished public schools that our children are forced to attend. In addition to these, our leaders’ failure to recognize this important day is another one of those reasons.
