Juneteenth has now officially been recognized as a national holiday through an act of Congress earlier this month. It is another sign that the United States is coming to terms with a problematic, racist past, even if it is doing so grudgingly. After all, there are a lot of Americans today, in 2021, who deny that racism is a major problem, and quite often undermine the problems that racism has cast historically in the nation.
In 2020 at about this time of the year, during his last year in the Oval Officer, Trump was asked about Juneteenth. Not surprisingly, the self-identified "very stable genius" had never heard of it.
Of course, that is not exactly a surprise. Trump is the very symbol and almost literal face and voice of the "ugly American" who has grown completely tone deaf to any kind of problems within the United States. That seems particularly true when it comes to America's rather long history of racism and racial violence. After all, he made clear almost immediately after taking office that he was opposed to Harriet Tubman being place on the $20 bill, and at least temporarily delayed it from happening. Frankly, that was almost the least of the racist things that seemed to become the norm in our headlines during the Trump years.
However Trump, while officially the elected and sitting president at the time that he undermined the significance of Juneteenth, is not really a leader in the conventional sense. He does not command the respect of a majority of Americans, let alone people around the world. More often than not, he seems like the punchline to some joke that long ago stopped being funny. Frankly, he feels like a dinosaur, with antiquated ideas and solutions to the problems facing the nation, and indeed the world. He feels more like a relic of the nineteenth century way of seeing and doing things, rather than a modern man of the 21st century.
Yet, we need to remember that, despite not having obtained a majority of votes in either 2016 or in 2020, he nevertheless received enough votes to win a term in the highest political office that this nation has. It is unfortunately still one more sign - as if we needed any more - that xenophobia and prejudices (tacit or otherwise) clearly remain a large problem and obstacle to true progress for us as a nation.
Juneteenth has now officially been recognized as a holiday today, June 19, 2021. It was already a state holiday in Texas. The significance of it, historically, was that this is the anniversary of General Gordon Granger coming to Galveston, Texas, months after the official end of the Civil War, and proclaiming emancipation to all slaves, who had not been informed that slavery had been officially abolished. The slaves in Galveston were the last official slaves remaining in the Confederacy.
So today, I honor this holiday, and added something else, also. There are two links that I added. The first is a transcript about Juneteenth from Bill Moyers back in 2020, where he talks about the significance of the holiday, saying that it is another Independence Day, of sorts. The second is a more cynical take on the holiday, suggesting that it is more symbolic, and has not really made any serious leeway towards true progress in the fight against racism.
Enjoy!
Watch Bill Moyers Speak at the Carnegie Hall Juneteenth Celebration America’s Other Independence Day BY BILL MOYERS | JUNE 17, 2020:
https://billmoyers.com/story/bill-moyers-on-juneteenth/?fbclid=IwAR2udNcaQj6faedupettajsKi8g9fAhQbM0mwfunTqHrZxW2nEu6F6GoMr8
Opinion: Juneteenth As A National Holiday Is Symbolism Without Progress June 19, 20216:00 AM ET ROBERT A. BROWN:
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/19/1008123408/juneteenth-national-holiday-symbolism-without-progress-opinion
Below is a link to an article which shows how some 10,000 former Confederate Loyalists fled to Brazil following the end of the Civil War, because slavery was still legal there at that point, and would be for maybe another decade and change or so. The link is at the bottom.
Meet The Confederados, The Confederate Loyalists Who Fled To Brazil After The Civil War By Morgan Dunn, June 15, 2020:
https://allthatsinteresting.com/confederados?fbclid=IwAR1f-soMdtnJUyAtDv-GAVzI7FYOVGoprGFarTbhVjknONLNAX052M8Xy7E
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