June 19th

Today is Juneteenth

Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863. (source)

This was before instant communication – telephones wouldn’t be invented for another 15 years or in wide use for another 60. Still, it took two and a half motherfucking years for word to get from D.C. to Texas? What the hell’s up with that?

More than a few reasons have been posited, such as:

•  the messenger was murdered on his way to Texas
•  news was deliberately withheld by the enslavers to maintain the labor force on the plantations.
•  federal troops actually waited for the slave owners to reap the benefits of one last cotton harvest before going to Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation.
•  President Lincoln's authority over the rebellious states was in  question. (source)
  

In Texas, Juneteenth has been a state holiday since 1980. 

Starting this year Juneteenth is a paid holiday for a bunch of corporations, including:

• Twitter
• Nike
• the NFL
• Adobe
• Mastercard
• Liberty Mutual
• Lyft
• Postmates
• Quicken Loans
• Square
• Uber
• Best Buy
• Target
• J.C. Penney
• The New York Times
• The Washington Post
• Vox Media
  

Meanwhile, in response to the six (SIX!) people of color found “hanging“ (AKA lynched), a few of my social media chums have announced on their platforms that if they are found swinging it was most def NOT a suicide. Just imagine calmly going about the business of life KNOWING that, because of the color of your skin, you may be strung up. Think on that. Picture the terror!

Naturally, this song comes to mind. 

In a chickenshit, passive aggressively executed move, a white Shoutyface “friend” (now blocked) accused me of looking for “brownie points” because I’ve posted a lot of Black Lives Matter articles and memes. He also accused me of being “racist against my own race.” 

So then, I guess I’m a race traitor. Huh, waddya know?

The people commenting on his idiocy posted shit like, they “don’t see color” and “there’s NO racism in my town,” along with other well meaning, ridiculous soundbites. Ya know, I’m not racist and then they prove otherwise.

I gotta ask…

WHY do you think I’m looking for “brownie points” (and what the fuck do you even mean by that?) when I amplify Black/Brown voices. C’mon, I’d love to read your, doubtless, scholarly treatise on the topic. Could it be, perhaps, that you feel embarrassed about that faded white supremacist ink on your bicep? Maybe you should spend the cabbage and have that disgusting and disgraceful shit removed, eh?

Also, can I just have the damn brownie? I don't need the points.

To the person who “doesn’t see color” – WHY is that? Are you visually impaired? Seriously. Color is one important aspect of who we are – no matter what shade of flesh tone we each rock. If you’re refusing to acknowledge that I’m White, Gregg and Sarah are Black and Rafael, Thom, Molly and Tina are Brown, you’re missing out on a significant building block of who we as fellow humans are.

The late 60s white man who posted the comment about racism not existing in his town – WHY do you think that? Is it because there aren’t any POC in your wee hamlet? Is it because you lack the ability to walk two damn meters in another’s shoes? Or maybe you live in a utopian version of reality?

I think today's a good day to stay OFF fucking social media!