Juneteenth: Elusive Freedom

I was born in the colonized Caribbean island of Antigua and raised in the first village to receive the news of emancipation from slavery. Every summer, Antigua hosts its vibrant carnival to celebrate the emancipation that took place on August 1, 1834. Carnival comes alive with the sounds, colors, and joy of the island's African culture. According to the Monarch King Short Shirt, Antigua's carnival is "the greatest summer festival!" Additionally, on November 1 each year, Antigua celebrates its hard-fought independence from England.

The British freed slaves in Antigua in 1834 as part of their broader move to abolish slavery in the Caribbean colonies, believing it hindered modernization. However, the lives of the formerly enslaved did not significantly improve. They continued to toil under conditions barely distinguishable from slavery. With no place to live, many remained in plantation housing, where residence implied an agreement to work on that plantation. They lacked the right to negotiate wages or working conditions. Those unable to prove gainful employment were jailed and sentenced to years of hard labor, while former slave owners received compensation from the British government for their so-called “loss of property.”

Today, Antigua hosts a substantial population of British and American expatriates, Syrians, and Chinese, whose economic positions starkly contrast with those of the Black population. Although the island's political leaders are Black natives of Antigua, real power is often wielded by the economic moguls of lighter skin tones. In Antigua, Blackness still frequently equates to poverty, highlighting the persistent economic disparities rooted in colonial history.

I moved to the US and am living a magnified and greatly multiplied version of these disparities. I heard there was a promise of 40 acres and a mule, a long time ago... Juneteenth is a day that bears witness to the complex, often contradictory narrative of American freedom.

On that summer day in Galveston, Texas, Union General Gordon Granger announced to the last remaining enslaved Blacks that they were, at long last, free. This declaration came two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Yet, it is the painful lag in justice, that defines Juneteenth. It is a reminder that freedom in America has always been deferred, its promises broken by the very nation that proclaimed itself the land of the free.

To understand Juneteenth, one must confront the dualities of American history. The United States, said to be founded on the principles of liberty and justice, simultaneously built its economic empire on the backs of enslaved Africans, (and continues to do so). This dichotomy is NOT a historical footnote. It is the very foundation of the American experience. Juneteenth reveals the hypocrisy of a nation that declared all men (people) equal while subjugating an entire people-group to sub-human bondage.

Juneteenth embodies both the joy of liberation and the resilience required to endure systemic oppression. The spirit of Blacks, unbroken by centuries of chattel slavery, found ways to survive, resist, and ultimately, thrive. The songs that are sung, the stories that are told, and the dances danced on this day embrace cultural artifacts and are acts of resistance against an oppressive system designed to erase Black identity.

This day also serves as a reminder of the incomplete nature of liberation. You see, the end of slavery did not herald the end of oppression. The systemic racism that followed—Jim Crow laws, redlining, mass incarceration—illustrates how freedom was circumscribed, and how the chains of physical bondage were replaced by the chains of institutionalized racism. 

Yes, the struggle is real and is ongoing. In the spirit of Baldwin, one must look at Juneteenth not as a relic of the past but as a living, breathing testament to the Black experience in America. Baldwin also once wrote, "The story of the Negro in America is the story of America. It is not a pretty story." 

This truth echoes in the history of Juneteenth. Here in the 21st century, we see echoes of the same struggles that defined the 19th and 20th centuries. The Black Lives Matter movement, the fight against voter suppression, the demand for criminal justice reform, the fight to close the wealth gap, are some contemporary manifestations of the same fight for recognition and equality that Juneteenth represents. 

I honor the sacrifices of those who came before, and still call us to action to ensure that the promises of freedom and equality are realized for all, for Juneteenth is still a holiday without the real benefit. 

So what did I do today? Following VBS, I went to a celebration in Fort Pierce. I danced (of course!) I acknowledge yet and again, the pain and suffering that have marked the Black experience in America and across the world. I also celebrate the resilience, strength, and the enduring spirit of a people who have never given up on the dream of true freedom, even though our DNA has been altered by constant trauma. As Baldwin might remind us, it is in our shared humanity and our collective struggle for justice that we find the true meaning of Juneteenth.

I am praying. I am dancing. I am fighting. Freedom... Freedom... Freedom.... Stony the road.... 

#Juneteenth #Freedom #incompletefreedom #history #lovegodlovepeople