Nothing is sacred for Black people in America. Not our music, our bodies, food or hairstyles. And now here come people trying to whitewash our holiday, Juneteenth.
Twitter wasted no time circulating a flier for the Juneteenth Soul Food Festival and Market with the pictures of featured hosts, Rex Nelson, Heather Baker and David Bazzel boldly printed on it. And by the way, Rex, Heather and David are all white and it’s a good chance none of their ancestors were freed from enslavement on June 19,1866.
I know this is low-hanging fruit, but nobody’s “ancestors were freed from enslavement on June 19,1866.” That is merely the date on which the freedmen of Galveston, Texas first celebrated the anniversary of Union Army General Gordon Granger’s General Order Number 3—by which they had learned of their emancipation in June of 1865. Like I said a year ago, the Federal repurposing of Juneteenth as a national holiday commemorating the final emancipation of all African-American slaves really makes no sense at all, but that’s what we got.
I have no idea who Rex Nelson, Heather Baker, and David Bazzel are, but that flier does look kind of silly to me. Another thing that seems kind of silly is the idea that The Whites cannot host or actively promote and participate in Juneteenth celebrations. Gordon Granger was a White, after all. There were plenty of Whites at the Juneteenth celebration I attended last summer, and everyone had a great time together. At least five of my six Unionist ancestors were Whites, and if I am supposed to believe that they all enlisted to fight the Confederates for the purpose of abolishing slavery, then it would seem like their descendants have a legitimate and important interest in promoting a national holiday commemorating the final emancipation of all African-American slaves.