Shaw U. professor: Making Juneteenth a federal holiday will help treat racial wounds
If the formative years of your life were anything like mine, there’s a chance you didn’t celebrate the holiday known as Juneteenth.
You may have participated in voter-registration drives, attended watch night services, family reunions or festivals that honored the richness of your heritage, but celebrating Juneteenth probably wasn’t on your list. This may surprise you, but all of the above rituals and practices can be traced back to early Juneteenth observances.
So what is Juneteenth?
Also known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, or Jubilee Day, Juneteenth commemorates the official ending of slavery in the United States. Its name is a combination of the words June and nineteen.
First observed on June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, Gen. Gordon Granger issued an order in accordance with the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that “all slaves are free.” Almost 100 years after America celebrated its independence from British rule, African Americans were just beginning to legally claim their freedom from the immoral and economic system of slavery. Although Juneteenth was a jubilant occasion for the newly freed, it also signaled the inchoate developments of a separate but unequal society for African Americans, a society that in many respects still exists today.
Juneteenth is recognized as a national holiday in 47 states. Texas was the first to recognize it as a paid holiday in 1980. Currently, there is a growing movement to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. Public officials, corporate executives, NFL owners, Nike, and activists are the latest to lend support to this cause.
Juneteenth as a holiday is trending in North Carolina as well. Recently, both Raleigh and Greensboro voted unanimously to make it a paid holiday for all of their employees. This historic celebration is gaining widespread attention, but the $80 million-dollar question is .. .why? Why now?
My belief is, not only is it becoming the politically expedient thing to do, but, most importantly, it is the moral thing to do. After 350 years of legalized violence and racial discrimination against African Americans, now is the ideal time to recognize Juneteenth as a national holiday.
Pandemic a time to reflect
The increased awareness of Juneteenth can also be attributed to a global pandemic that has brought all of our lives to a grinding halt. It’s given us the time to think, to reconsider, to reconnect, and to reflect upon our history as a country. It’s given us the moral permission to examine our racial biases and practices which have led to divisiveness, strife and social conflict.
The pandemic has brought to light a host of inequalities that have consistently plagued African Americans and people of color: Racial injustice, educational inequality, disparities in health care, mass incarceration and the continued criminalization of people with felonies. All of which are tied to our nation’s past.
I lead a monthly discussion on Jim Wallis’ book, “America’s Original Sin.” The premise of his writing is: “Only by telling the truth about our history and genuinely repenting of its evils, which still linger, can we find the true road to justice and reconciliation.” According to Wallis, repentance is not just expressing sorrow or admitting guilt; it’s about turning completely around and going in a whole new direction.
We cannot create a better future without properly treating the lingering wounds of our past. Recognizing Juneteenth as a holiday helps us to publicly acknowledge that past, but also treat the existing wounds with healthy doses of restorative justice and reconciliation.
Now is the time for us to do the hard and difficult work of dismantling the forces of systemic racism, and opening the door to a new future. Celebrating the official end of slavery in the United States is a terrific way for us to start.
The Rev. Dr. Floyd Wicker is an adjunct professor at Shaw University Divinity School in Raleigh. He was the 2019 recipient of the Fayetteville Cumberland Human Relations Commission’s Religious Leader Award.