Making Sense of Juneteenth

 

         I’ve been trying to make sense of this new Federal holiday called Juneteenth. I did a little research to try and understand it. I googled its origins and found the explanation that CBS news gives as extremely hilarious. Does anyone do any research before writing anymore or has the country become that “dumbed down” that there is no fear of someone having the intelligence to learn the truth?

          Before you get upset with me, read this entire article. I don’t have a problem with people celebrating the end of slavery. I do have a problem with it being limited to just people with African ancestors who were slaves. Native Americans were slaves, Irish were slaves, the Jewish were slaves, and the list goes on and on. I also have a problem with the explanation given for Juneteenth.

          According to Emily Mae Czachor a news editor for CBS, the proclamation freed the slaves, but couldn’t free everyone in Confederate controlled states. Has this person even read the proclamation? Did the proclamation free a single slave? The answer to both questions is probably the same. No.  

          The proclamation was issued as a war measure only. President Lincoln understood two things about the slaves. The first was the fact that they kept the Confederate Army fed and the second that they were home while Southern soldiers were at the front. If he could incite slave rebellions in the heart of the Confederacy, he could finally win a war that he was losing. The most surprising thing to Mr. Lincoln was the fact that the slaves in the South remained loyal. Not a single slave insurrection occurred during the war.

          The states of Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and Missouri would retain their slaves until the 13^th Amendment was passed. If Lincoln was so concerned with freeing slaves, these would have been the first he freed. These states were still part of the United States and were under his control. He not only never freed a single slave in these states, there were more he could have freed, but didn’t.

There were twelve parishes in Louisiana that were exempt from the proclamation because it was controlled by the Federal Army. (That’s right, these slaves remained slaves. It wasn’t just Louisiana either. There were forty-eight counties of Virginia (which illegally became the state of West Virginia see Article IV, section 3 of the United States Constitution) that were not freed by the proclamation because it was occupied by the United States Army. There were another seven counties of what is still Virginia that were excluded. Not a slave in Tennessee was freed by the proclamation because it was occupied by the Federal Army.

Unfortunately, none of this is taught in schools anymore and if it were, it would just be ignored. So how many slaves did the emancipation free? The answer is zero. You see, Mr. Lincoln didn’t free a single slave he could have freed, but attempted to free slaves that he had no ability to free. I can see why it is such an important holiday, can’t you?