Please welcome a known guest writer to Word to the Masses, Mr. Blue
In the observance of Juneteenth, a celebration by African-Americans of the emancipation proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863 freeing the slaves, I think it’s important to reflect upon exactly what it is we are celebrating.
Shortly after the euphoria wore off at the recognition of this document, the former slaves found themselves in somewhat of a conundrum: what to do with this so-called freedom. With little more than the clothes on their backs, some travelled north just to encounter racism as thick there, as in the south. While others readily accepted living conditions with their former slave masters, performing the exact same tasks they had under slavery; a fickle bitch this new found freedom.
On the national mall in downtown Washington, D.C., there is the Vietnam Memorial, a beautifully constructed piece of architecture featuring the names of every soldier who died in that war. Etched prominently into the wall is the inscription, “Freedom is not free;” a tacit reminder to all who see it that freedom requires effort, determination, sacrifice and sometimes the ultimate sacrifice.
I honor all who risked life and limb fighting so African-Americans could live with integrity, dignity and respect. The torch is supposed to be passed down to each generation, but something has gone horribly wrong. Sometimes we forget just how difficult that struggle was and is. There have been attempts to smear the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by labeling him a pacifist, but he marched in the face of baseball bats, fists, spit, chains and guns-armed only with a belief in justice, his faith in God and an indomitable spirit.
So many homes and churches were bombed that some black folks in the south refused to even talk to Dr. King out of a fear so palpable you could touch it. Truly one of the most courageous men to ever live, Dr. King was assassinated fully comprehending the cost of freedom. Keep in mind and make no mistake; civil rights legislation to improve the lot of African-Americans was only grudgingly passed. And had it not been for people like Dr. King, who would not give up or give in to enormous pressure, they would not have been passed.
Incidentally, since then we have seen most of that legislation repealed. History teaches us that there is no law that can trump custom. For instance, if the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution freeing the slaves is truly valid then there would be no need for the 14th and 15th Amendments stating that people born in the U.S. are indeed citizens and that citizens have the right to vote, respectively. The peculiar thing about these historical documents is their ambivalence. Obviously the requirements for freedom go way beyond proclamation and amendments.
With black wealth measuring the same today as it did during reconstruction at less than 1% of what we earn, and with African-Americans comprising roughly 10% of the U.S. population and yet 60% of its prisons and with the unemployment rate for black people nearly tripling the national average – I feel it is past time we decipher these documents to determine what they actually mean in the real world and exactly how they apply to us.
We should be very careful because if you buy the concept that a signature can actually free you, then conversely you have also invested power in that same pen to sign you back into slavery. I’m not saying we shouldn’t celebrate because we should; collectively we have made great strides, but we still have a long way to go. However, our celebrations should be tempered with remembrance of how far we’ve come and how it was done so as to better plot a course for our future.
So celebrate, but pay attention. And, if there’s work to be done – pick up the torch and go to it, do your part; freedom is not free.
Live Well,
Mr. Blue
Copyright © 2011 by Paul Brown
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