Black Paper: on Why Black Americans Celebrate Juneteenth ...

and Why All Americans Should

By Brother Amfri Umi-Uchechi Copyright June 18, 2012

Dear Brothers & Sisters, I have nothing but love for our Honored Ancestors who experienced the hell of slavery and endured for their childrens sake. I shall not forget them. Nor, shall I harbor hatred in my heart for the Souls of the lost children who forgot their God and enslaved their brother. May we continue to walk in the Love of the Almighty. There is a lot of confusion over why Blacks celebrate Juneteenth. Many Blacks from the north do not know the history behind the celebration. I would like to clear this up. Juneteenth was not about Black people in Texas being the last to find out we were free. The Emancipation Proclamation (1863)1 did free all slaves; but, 10 states were still in rebellion. These are stated in the proclamation as being Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisana (some parrishes & New Orleans complied), Mississippi, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. This rebellion did not end until General Lee and the Confederacy surrendered on April 7, 1965. Juneteenth honors the liberation of slaves by Union forces on June 18, 1865. Effectively, SLAVERY DID NOT END for 10 STATES after the proclamation was announced! Remember, our ancestors were dealing with some severely evil, racist, a$$holes in the south. They had stripped Black people of all their human and civil rights. Our ancestors could not assemble. They could not vote. They may or may not have had the right to own guns. They were not considered citizens, and the Jim Crow laws were already in place. The war killed a lot, and small pox and disease killed many. Texas had refused to end slavery with the nine other southern states mentioned. Our ancestors knew they were free by proclamation; but, what could run - A WAR WAS GOING ON! If you have any doubts, read the Slave Narratives of Texas1. In addition, the patty-rollers, white people who hunted blacks to return them to their masters, were doing big business. Most people did not understand the significance of the word nigger head painted on the rock at the entrance of Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry's HUNTING RANCH. Hunting...niggers heads...patty-rollers...patty wagons. Meditate on this. We need to know our history or we are doomed to repeat it. This man is in office right now. How could such a person lead the second largest state in the country? Meditate on this. In 1863, Galveston was then the capitol of the Republic of Texas. Texas had seceded, and on January 1, 1863, the day the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery was to go into effect, the Battle of Galveston was fought. Texans, still fighting the Civil War, drove the

Union Army out! Texas and other southern states rights advocates did not believe the Federal government had the right to take their property (thats what they called us), and they had no intention of giving their chattel freedom. The lost ones came up with this legal description to pretend we were not human. This is how evil people think. Meditate on this. Please meditate on this and what is going on with the election of our first Black President. These people (the lost ones) still do not want to recognize him or give him the respect due a man deserves let alone the president of the free world. Like the slave states, they have no intention of honoring their law or our nations covenant with God. Are you supporting these people? THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION DID NOT END THE WAR! It increase hostilities. General Lee, the Confederate Commander, did not surrender to the Union Army until April 7, 1865! On June 18, 1865, General Granger of the Union army entered Galveston with 2000 troops and forcefully took control of the state. On June 19, 1865, he read the proclamation that freed the slaves.

Note:
I feel it is important for African Americans to understand that the term slave was not our nationality nor was it our identity. Only the most morally defunct and spiritually lost being can legally declare another sub-human and use every form of human atrocity ever known in an attempt to strip them of their dignity; and, they even tried to make us believe it. Our ancestors were not dumb, stupid, or lazy. They were brutalized and tortured from cradle to grave in the most horrendous of ways the diseased minds of the slave economic system could imagine. But, our Honored Ancestors kept the faith. Soldiers go off to war and come back one year later with severe cases of post traumatic stress disorder. They cant function. Cant hold a job. Cant keep their family together. Fall into depression, drugs, and crime. All this after just one year of war. Try to imagine a people experiencing brutalizing terror for over 400 years from the moment they were born until the day they died. What type of stress disorder do you think we still have today? Stockholm Syndrome - In psychology, Stockholm syndrome is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness. The FBIs Hostage Barricade Database System shows that roughly 27% of victims show evidence of Stockholm Syndrome. The captors will even turn on each other. We call it the crabs in a barrel syndrome.

So, every American should celebrate Juneteenth by remembering the sacrifices of our Honored Ancestors. Regardless of color, this is a triump of Soul over all that is unholy. For all they endured, Black people have every right to claim America any nationality does. This land is our land...this land is your land. The right to celebrate is not something the majority population bestow upon us. Our ancestors earned every bit of honor we can give them. Of them, we need not be ashamed. Evil may have broken our ancestors flesh. It may have soured some of their spirits. But, never did it diminish their Souls or their desire to be free at least in 73% of them. We need to embrace and love the 27% of us who are still in shock...we all suffer from the Stockholm syndrome. Or as, Dr. Joy Degruy Leary calls it in her book by the same name, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome. We celebrate the Israelites 40 years in the wilderness. Can we not celebrate our own ancestors 400 years of legalized dehumanization? Shall we always celebrate others ancestors? How can God truly honor us if we fail to remember those who sacrificed their very humanity for us here? And, they did it for 400 years. It was 400 years brothers and sisters, 400 years. For them, I celebrate.

Love & Peace

1

Emancipation Proclamation - U.S. National Archives & Records - Featured Documents http:// www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/transcript.html
2

Slave Narratives of Texas - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ewyatt/_borders/ Texas%20Slave%20Narratives/Texas%20Index.html

3

Slave Narratives: Project Gutenberg - http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30576/30576-h/30576-h.htm