June 19, 2014 - Why African Americans Remember and why I think you should

City Center Milwaukee | DAY 74 | Today is Juneteenth Day - A day of remembering and Atonement.  It is a day that America bench-marked on the books in the state of Texas, for change in the practice of slavery and the enslavement of African American.

Dates to remember when remembering

The 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, on September 22, 1862, with an effective date of January 1, 1863, issued the Emancipation Proclamation.   It was over 2 years, before the state of Texas was forced to free African American People that were slaves.

On June 18, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived on the island of Galveston, Texas, to take possession of the state and enforce the emancipation of its slaves.  On June 19, standing on the balcony of Galveston’s Ashton Villa, Granger read the contents of "General Order No. 3".

General Order 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. 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. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.

Notice the reading of the General Order No. 3.  

Notice the vulnerability and lack of transition, atonement and reparation for the centuries-old wrongdoings - African American males and females brutalized and their family members (offsprings) separated and sold on Auction blocks, never to be seen again - Freemen without Respect-4-Respect, dignity of passage and full protection from the monopoly-oligopoly greed of Caucasians that continued to violate their rights.   

Imagine the risky position the African American Freedmen were placed in when they attempted to remind the slave owners and other Caucasians the words of the General Order No. 3, especially:

"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".

The Freedmen were left at such a disadvantage - "The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.

In other words, you are on your own without the basics for quality of life and economic advantage".  You are suggested to stay on the plantations and work for wages (but no guidance and guarantees of rights of pay and medical care).  The Freedman were also told that they had very few options other than stay, since they could not seek refuge at the local military post and "idleness - loitering" would not be tolerated - this sounds just like it is today in the city of Milwaukee and across the United States.

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African Americans must never allow the torturous past to be looked over, not be remembered and Atoned.  Too many African American citizens were denied their rights and privileges - just as in today; too many African Americans are wrongfully, racially, disproportionately treated in yet a systemic and institutional way; i.e., jailed/incarcerated.

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Wikipedia

Juneteenth, also known as Juneteenth Independence Day, Freedom Day, or Emancipation Day, is a holiday in the United States that commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. state of Texas in 1865, and more generally the emancipation of African-American citizens throughout the United States. Celebrated on June 19, the term is a portmanteau of June and nineteenth, and is recognized as a state holiday or special day of observance in most states.

The holiday is observed primarily in local celebrations. Traditions include public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, singing traditional songs such as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing", and readings by African American writers such as Maya Angelou and Ralph Ellison. Celebrations sometimes take the form of parades, rodeos, street fairs, cookouts, family reunions, park parties, historical reenactments, or Miss Juneteenth contests.

During the US Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, with an effective date of January 1, 1863. Although it declared that slaves were to be freed in the Confederate States of America in rebellion against the federal government, it had minimal actual effect.   Even after the ending of military hostilities, as a part of the former Confederacy, Texas did not act to comply with the Emancipation Proclamation.

On June 18, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived on the island of Galveston, Texas, to take possession of the state and enforce the emancipation of its slaves.  On June 19, standing on the balcony of Galveston’s Ashton Villa, Granger read the contents of "General Order 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. 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. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.

So the struggle goes on.

What think and say you today - whomever you might be?

June 19, 2014