Justice Delayed: Juneteenth!!!!

We’d been freed 2 1/2 years earlier but didn’t know it.

Two and a half years were allowed to pass before the word was given to the enslaved that they were free.

“The Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, had established that all enslaved people in Confederate states in rebellion against the Union “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”  But in reality, the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t instantly free any enslaved people. The proclamation only applied to places under Confederate control and not to slave-holding border states or rebel areas already under Union control. However, as Northern troops advanced into the Confederate South, many enslaved people fled behind Union lines.” history.com

I’d heard of Juneteenth, but recently I’ve begun to really take a closer look at it.  As I’ve read about it, even with the late announcement, the reality was delayed further for many enslavers weren’t happy and wanted to keep the slave labor as long as they could.  So for 2 1/2 years, they continued to oversee my people and make more money for themselves.

So when, the word finally came…….”it marked the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed. The troops’ arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. On June 17, 2021, it officially became a federal holiday.  Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox Court House two months earlier in Virginia, but slavery had remained relatively unaffected in Texas—until U.S. General Gordon Granger stood on Texas soil and read General Orders No. 3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”  history.com

And, those illiterate, newly freed people created a word to commemorate it!! June + Nineteenth = Juneteenth!! I love my people!!!

There’s so much to discover about the celebration.  I, of course, was really interested in the menu that became part of the celebrations.  They ate red foods.  Reasons ranged from the honoring of the blood of the ancestors, to ancient African sacrifice customs to red meaning strength and spirituality.  While red soda and red drank became popular, the historical red cultural drink made of hibiscus was known as “bissau” in West Africa.  It was brought to the Caribbean and the Americas  during the slave trade and is popularly know as sorrel.    www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-juneteenth Watermelon, which was in season, was also on the menu!!

I don’t know how you’re planing to celebrate this year.  The last two years have definitely caused Black folk to take a second look at a lot of things.  I do know you’re thinking about how the freedom in this country is still delayed for people that look like me.  It’s really hard to detach the powerful and controlling impact of Eurocentric intent and thought on the details of Black folks lives.  But, we’ve got to keep peeling back the layers and revealing truth and freedom.

I’m doing my part.

I want Black people to be healthy and eat more plants and honey for the culture.

I want it to be done with so much flava that you’ll never wanna to go back to that other mess!!! I’ll probably make something red this year.

I want to be part of the generation that reverses chronic disease and takes back our health.

Cause you’re a beautiful child of God.

Made in His image with skin like bronze and hair like wool.

And, like many of the lyrics in the spirituals our forbears sang, Trouble Don't Last Always. And, we have hope in a Higher power who WILL execute justice and judgment and freedom one day.

And, He who the Son sets Free is Free INDEED!!!

Celebrate Juneteenth!!  Make something RED!!  Fight for Freedom!!  It’s Wellness Wednesday!!

I’m Still Shoutin’ Ova Here!!

Donna

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