A Call for Jubilee
In Celebration of Juneteenth | #TC73
As it should’ve been for the last 155 years, Juneteenth will soon be a Federal holiday.
Democrats, Republicans, and businesses alike are calling on our nation to enshrine our greatest triumph – the true end to slavery – amongst our national celebrations. It is long overdue that we center those who waited the longest for freedom, who endured the greatest human evil for two years longer than they were promised.
On June 19, 1865, Union Army General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas to read a military order declaring the end of the Civil War and the end of slavery via the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, ‘all slaves are free,’ ” the order reads.
“This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.”
It was then, not 1863, that slavery was over in the farthest reaches of the Confederacy.
Starting in 1866, Black Texans have celebrated Juneteenth to commemorate the anniversary of Granger’s announcement.
(Graphic: Ben & Jerry’s)
As the Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality rage on and lynchings are reported across the country, our failures over the past century and a half are on full display for the world to see once again.
It is fitting then that during this time of global reckoning Americans are amplifying the truth about our national history, and the ills that come with it. This year, June 12 provided a particularly powerful example as it is both Loving Day – marking the anniversary of the victory in 1967’s Loving v. Virginia which legalized interracial marriage in the US – and the anniversary of 2016’s Pulse Nightclub Shooting, the deadliest incident in the country’s history of violence against LGBTQ+ people.
50 years ago, on June 28, 1969, ongoing police brutality against the Queer community led a Black trans woman named Marsha P. Johnson to start the Stonewall Riots, igniting the LGBTQ+ Rights movement. To this day – even after decades of victories – Pride is a riot on the last weekend of June because just as there can be no peace without justice, there can be no Queer equality without Black liberation.
Like Juneteenth, these days embody both our idealist progression and our darkest sins. Days that cannot be authentically celebrated without a thorough understanding of the sacrifice and the suffering built on top of generation after generation. To do so, we will have to wade through our sins – past, present, and to come – as a regular part of our culture.
We have the pieces – Loving Day, Juneteenth, Pride, Independence Day – but as the American people today, there is very little that ties them together. Unlike with winter holidays that are tied together by faith (and lunar cycles), our collection of civic celebrations starting with Memorial Day and extending to July 4 is a missed opportunity to strengthen the American people’s bond to our history and each other.
We need a collective experience. One that tells the truth and includes every person in the United States. To do so, we’ll have to go even farther than making Juneteenth a national holiday. We must create a festival that celebrates an American re-dedication to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all. An annual, weekslong jubilee running from June 19–July 4, anchored by Juneteenth, Pride and Independence Day.
Two-and-a-half weeks where we pause our work to focus on remembrance and revelry.
We have so much work to do. This we all know. Juneteenth embodies the duality of America – our hypocritical, never-ending delay of justice vs. our revolutionary fervor to realize the promises of our Declaration – as well or better than any other day. 155 years ago, it deserved to be a Federal holiday. Today, we owe the day and the Black people of America more than we could possibly ever repay but, in elevating our nation’s rebirth to the same status as its founding, we’d finally be on the right track.
Stay safe and healthy, beautiful people. And, thanks for reading.
Happy Juneteenth,
Kyle (@kgborland)
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Actions for Juneteenth
Call your Congressional representatives to let them know you support making Juneteenth a national holiday.
Check out this quick explainer video on the holiday’s background.
Donate! Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project (BLMP), Houston Museum of African American Culture (HMAAC), and Project Row Houses.
Join a local party or protest! Make sure you know the Juneteenth principles of Movement for Black Lives before joining any action.
EXCITING UPDATE! Next Thursday, the #8ToAbolition comrades are putting on a teach-in, hosted by @haymarketbooks. More details soon!
Watch HBO’s Watchmen series for FREE this weekend to learn more about the Black Wall Street Massacre, where a white mob in Tulsa, OK murdered hundreds of Black people while destroying their businesses and homes. The show is truthfully one of the best single seasons of television I’ve ever watched and it helped to shine a light on another example of America’s habit of intentionally covering up the darkest moments of its history. Trump tried to relaunch his campaign today in Tulsa and was met was such overwhelming backlash he had to reschedule to Saturday and began claiming he made Juneteenth “famous.”
