Today is Juneteenth, a day which commemorates the promulgation of General Order No. 3, a proclamation in which a Civil War general announced freedom for enslaved people in Texas. This is an important anniversary and I’m glad it was added to the roster of federal holidays.
I did not learn about Juneteenth in my high school or college education. I hope that changes for students going forward. The end of the Civil War did not magically fix the racist society that kidnapped Africans and others and made them slaves. We are still living in a country where racism and unequal opportunity abound. Right now, the Republican Party is undertaking a systematic, country-wide effort to restrict the ability of Americans to vote, with an emphasis on states where POC form a substantial part of the voting populace. We have uninformed parents freaking out because Fox News has told them that “critical race theory” is Bad — without understanding what it is and isn’t, or why it’s crucial in education. We have a voting rights act stalled in the Senate. We have Black Americans being gunned down by law enforcement while white murderers get treated like royalty.
I feel a little weird writing this because I am white and have lived with all the privileges that white Americans are accorded — I don’t want to seem like I am “white-splaining” Juneteenth. But it’s important for our country to reckon with the generations of harm that it has done and continues to do to Black Americans and other POC.
