This is another that I first published last year, but felt it was well worth reprising this year, for it is thought-provoking and adds context, another view, to the discussion.
While I have applauded the passage and presidential signing of the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act and have chalked up most of the objections to both ignorance and racism, I did come across one thought-provoking OpEd. This piece by a professor at Morehouse College, a historically Black liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia, makes some very valid points. Professor Robert A. Brown is not against the Juneteenth holiday, but reminds us that declaring it a federal holiday is not the end goal, that there is much work to be done in this country yet before Blacks have true freedom and equality. The phrase, ‘Talk is cheap, actions speak louder than words’ comes to mind as I read his words and ponder what he says …
Juneteenth As A National Holiday Is Symbolism Without Progress
June 19, 2021 6:00 AM ET
ROBERT A. BROWN
This week, President Biden signed into law the “Juneteenth National Independence Day.”
It is honoring the work of Black Americans, including people such as 94-year-old Civil Rights Activist Opal Lee, who had long advocated for the celebration that started in Galveston to be made a federal holiday.
Juneteenth celebrates the date when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19th, 1865, bringing news that the Emancipation Proclamation had freed the enslaved population living in the Confederacy, albeit two years prior.
Yet the reaction amongst many African Americans, myself included, has been muted.
There is a growing discontent in the African American community with symbolic gestures that are presented as progress without any accompanying economic or structural change.
The vestiges of a shameful past continue
Though Juneteenth is a celebration of the people who endured slavery, the vestiges of slavery and the Jim Crow segregation designed to preserve it continue to this day.
As law professor Michelle Alexander notes, “There are more African American men in prison or jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850.”
The average white household holds almost 7 times more than the wealth of a Black household. Perhaps more concerning, education does little to close the Black-white wealth gap as white families headed by those without a college degree have more wealth than Black families headed by those with a graduate or professional degree.
And yet, in the face of these stark disparities, lawmakers have been more willing to engage in performative symbolism than passing laws to make substantive change.
We have seen federal lawmakers take a knee, draped in kente cloth, but we have seen no substantive change about reforming police brutality that inspired Colin Kaepernick’s initial protest.
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” is sung across the country, while legislation for reparations for the horrors of slavery languish. Sports arenas and streets have the words “Black Lives Matter” emblazoned for all to see, and yet police reform and anti-lynching laws that were some of the initial goals of the Black Lives Matter movement remain unpassed.
What is needed are substantive steps
There are substantive steps that federal lawmakers could take to honor the historic debt owed to the descendants of the enslaved in addition to a federal holiday.
House Resolution 40 has called for a committee to study reparations. If advanced, it could ultimately begin a national discussion about cash reparations at the federal level.
Substantive reform to end the immunity police who brutalize our citizens should be enacted, as well as a reversal of the decades-long militarization of the police.
Historically Black colleges and universities, most of which were founded around the end of slavery, should receive substantial increases in federal funding.
In many ways, the history of Juneteenth and the end of U.S. slavery mirrors the uneven pace of progress for African Americans during the following 150 years.
I have celebrated Juneteenth at festivals that honor the culture and community of the descendants of those who had been enslaved. Those celebrations always featured a community singing of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” just like members of Congress did upon the signing of the Juneteenth holiday into law.
This year, while I’ll sing about being “full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,” like many African Americans, I’ll be mindful that, as the song says, we must continue to fight on “till victory is won.”
“Let me tell you something, I am standing here because what I saw was my people face to face with this crowd and everybody’s thinking ‘how can we use force and diffuse this’ and I’m not having it. I’m not having that. You have a right to be upset, to be scared, and to want to yell. And we’re going to have everybody doing what they need to do and we’re going to do it safely. That’s my first commitment. And I hear you. I have heard from so many people that cannot sleep, they’re terrified, they’re crying, they’re worried for their children – there’s a problem.” 
The solutions to these problems will not happen overnight, and they will not happen at all as long as we have people in the upper echelons of our government who simply do not care. Until the very real concerns are taken seriously, until there are steps made toward real solutions, not band-aid fixes, the protests, riots, and violence will continue. In September 2016, San Francisco 49ers football player Colin Kaepernick chose to take a knee rather than stand for the national anthem. He was protesting the exact same thing the protesters today are protesting: police brutality and murder of black people. Yet, his very peaceful protest was met with derision, insults, and eventually loss of his job. Since then, police killings of blacks have continued and now people are tired, they are sick of protesting peacefully and nothing changes. Until this nation makes changes, there will be protests, some will be violent, some people will die. It’s a fact, not a speculation. I don’t condone the violence, but I do understand it and I fully support their cause.
In between, all around the country, journalists were harassed. In Louisville, a police officer shot pepper balls at a local TV reporter, Kaitlin Rust while in Denver, police fired paintballs and tear gas, hitting a news photographer and his camera. The seeds for these incidents were planted long ago, when Donald Trump declared the press the “enemy of the people”, but this is only the beginning, my friends. According to Suzanne Nossel, chief executive of PEN America, the nonprofit organization devoted to free expression …
When Nike announced that their new ad campaign for the 30th anniversary of its “Just Do It” motto would feature Colin Kaepernick, the man who took a knee to take a stand against racial injustice, some portion of the nation went a bit berserk. There were reports of people burning their Nike clothing & shoes, cutting holes in their socks, and all manners of rather stupid (considering they paid for those clothes & shoes) protests. Boycotts were called for, and Donald Trump, of course had to get in on the act saying, “I don’t like what Nike did. I don’t think it’s appropriate what they did.” Rather tame for him, come to think of it.
Chris Cox is the head of the NRA lobbying efforts, and sure enough, earlier this month, the NRA spent more than $400,000 on ads hitting Rosendale’s democratic opponent, incumbent Jon Tester over the precise issue that Rosendale mentioned—the senator’s votes on Supreme Court nominations. Dirty pool? You betcha. Is anything likely to come of it? It is extremely doubtful, for there is no evidence in the audio recording that Rosendale consented or encouraged the contribution. Just one more of the many tricks the GOP and NRA have up their sleeves.
The town of Berkeley Springs is located in Morgan County, West Virginia. West Virginia voted 75% for Donald Trump in 2016, which says something about the state. Nonetheless, there is a library in Berkeley. The Director of the Morgan County Public Library is one Donna Crocker. On Tuesday, when Bob Woodward’s book, Fear: Trump in the White House, was released, Berkeley Springs resident Rob Campbell generously attempted to donate a copy of the book to the library but was turned down flat. Crocker declined his offer, saying that they “… wouldn’t be putting books like that on the shelves anymore.” Books like that??? Like what? What year is this, again?
Last week it was announced that white supremacist and former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon would be featured during The New Yorker Festival that is scheduled to run from October 5th thru 7th. He was to be interviewed by the magazine’s editor, David Remnick, who is a frequent critic of the Trump administration. The response to the announcement was rapid and served as a potential death knell for the festival, with prominent participants saying they would not attend if Bannon were there.
Now, you may not think this is a huge deal … Colin Kaepernick is a big football star, Nike sells athletic clothing & shoes … this is what they do, right? But, given the controversy over the past two years, given that some 53% of the nation, including the ‘man’ in the Oval Office think what Mr. Kaepernick is doing is terrible, Nike is taking a huge risk. It could go either way … people might, like myself and some of my readers, plan to start buying more Nike products, or Donald Trump and others such as conservative news sites may call on their fans & followers to boycott Nike. My instinct says the latter is the more likely scenario.
If your favourite brand of coffee changes the taste just a bit, you may grumble and grouse for a bit, but after a few days you are used to it and you don’t even notice anymore. This is how we are becoming in certain areas … complacent, immune. One such area is the threat of a government {yawn} shutdown. How many times now since Trump took office have we been threatened with it? Three, I think? 💤 Who knows … I’ve lost count. The one constant here is … the bloomin’ wall! Wah, wah, wah … da baby isn’t gonna play nice if he cannot have his multi-billion-dollar toy. It’s old, folks … it’s well beyond old and tiresome.
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