Juneteenth 2022

An Introduction to Juneteenth 2022

This is taken from the Wikipedia entry but is a detailed description of Juneteenth for people who are unaware of it.

“Juneteenth - (officially Juneteenth National Independence Day and also known as Jubilee Day, Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, and Black Independence Day) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans. It is also often observed for celebrating African-American culture. Originating in Galveston, Texas, it has been celebrated annually on June 19 in various parts of the United States since 1865. The day was recognized as a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. Juneteenth's commemoration is on the anniversary date of the June 19, 1865, announcement of General Order No. 3 by Union Army General Gordon Granger, proclaiming freedom for enslaved people in Texas, which was the last state of the Confederacy with institutional slavery.”

My Personal Observations on Juneteenth

I was unaware of Juneteenth until late last year and it did bring back thoughts of the racism I experienced in my youth. My dad was disappointed when Mohammed Ali took his name and ditched Cassius Clay, and I cannot even put down the things that people said. My uncle's wife who is a Kiwi said that New Zealand is great because it is like the UK in the 1950s and the indigenous people are kept in their place.

So many times people told me they weren’t being racist, and such a body was fine but ……. You can guess what came next.

I have my own implicit bias and racist issues which you can read about in the piece below.

Although Juneteenth originated almost a hundred and fifty years ago black people are still not treated equally in so many situations.

I always saw the colour of someone’s skin as almost a fashion. Yes, the colour of skin is different to mine but that is where it stops. I loved so many black artists, Sam Cooke, the Motown groups, Mohammed Ali, and Richard Prior though I can’t remember any black friends as a teenager but had many Asian ones.

But while Juneteenth is a day to celebrate Black Emancipation so much more needs to be done until the colour of someone's skin is the same as the colour of someone's jacket.

I live in a very mixed cosmopolitan area now and I love it. I remember walking to work along the West Road and I was the only white person there and I thought that was amazing and felt privileged to be there.

Here is a list of things that we need to be aware of, they are UK and USA based and I know Juneteenth is an American celebration but these things will occur in one form or another in both countries.

• Black People are more likely to be targeted by police because of their colour. This is true in the UK and the USA.
• Black People are targeted by Racist Institutions. (The “Windrush” scandal in the UK is still going on)
• Non-White Asylum Seekers in The UK are being sent to Rwanda, a country with terrible human rights abuses while costing the British Government a fortune.
• In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which legally ended the segregation that was institutionalized by Jim Crow laws. And in 1965, the Voting Rights Act halted efforts to keep minorities from voting but this is still going on today in both the USA and the UK.

Conclusion

This year I know what Juneteenth is about and what it means and I will celebrate it in any way I can while still being constantly aware of the racism that is still prevalent in our society.

Lead image taken from here