Juneteenth 2020

Nobody knows the trouble it’s seen

This year will be a particularly hard Juneteenth. We heard the other day that they’ve canceled Pops on the River. Because a free event that attracts so many people would make it difficult for everybody to remain at a distance, socially. Doubtless there were many a-barbecue scheduled for today that have been postponed.

But the lack of food isn’t the most important part. The nation seems to be fraying at the edges, and not just the edges. Drudge had a story this week that said American pride was at a record low this year. Gallup reports that although most Americans are proud of the country, less than two-thirds say that. Compare that to after 9/11 when the numbers were into the 90s.

And now, the year 2020 comes to us. But shouldn’t this be a day — particularly this day — to be proud? And not just of the country, but of each other? Yes, there are protests in the streets. But unlike civil rights protests of an earlier era, black folks aren’t the vast majority of those marching. Just look at the pictures in the paper.

Yes, there is a virus on the warpath. And it’s killed thousands of Americans. But it would have almost certainly killed more, if We the People hadn’t listened to the experts. Besides a few malcontents, most of us wear masks and stay out of mosh pits. Heck, we’re even doing church from our home computers.

Yes, the economy is in the tank. But that’s not because of anything fundamentally wrong with the American business model. Those who study these things are talking about record growth next year — as soon as a vaccine is proven safe.

There is a lot to be proud of in this country. And Juneteenth is as good as Thanksgiving to acknowledge that.

Aholiday requires more than an official proclamation; it needs a story. Like Easter, and The Story. Or Labor Day, and the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. Or Veterans Day, and the Frozen Chosin.

Thankfully, today’s holiday has an original narrative, too. It was the day all of us were free at last, thank God Almighty.

Much as freedom came to the slaves, Juneteenth has spread only slowly, unevenly, moving in fits and starts. Just as jazz, another great American invention with its roots in the African American heritage, came up the river from New Orleans, so Juneteenth moved like a ripple out of Galveston, Texas. That’s where the Union commander landed on June 19, 1865, with the news that The War was over and, oh yes, the slaves had been freed — two and a half years before!

No wonder Juneteenth was slow to catch on over the years; the end of slavery on this continent did not come on one definite date amid lightning and thunder. No date written in stone, or at least ink, such as July the Fourth. Instead, the wheels of emancipation ground slow and exceedingly fine. Some slaves were freed at once, others were not. Some heard about it, others did not. Some believed it, others did not.

Emancipation was more a mundane legal process than a voice from the heavens proclaiming liberty throughout the land. Mr. Lincoln’s proclamation was an exercise of the commanderin-chief’s wartime powers rather than some great declaration that all men are created equal.

How strange, too, that Abraham Lincoln, who contributed two almost biblical messages to American history in the Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural, should have written an Emancipation Proclamation that has all the romance of a real estate deed, and not a single stirring line.

The Great Emancipator had become, as in a way he always was, the cautious lawyer. He was careful to proclaim liberty only in that part of the land where he was sure he legally could, but practically couldn’t, in the rebellious states. He was using emancipation as a weapon of war, aware that it could backfire but also hopeful that it would spell the end of slavery everywhere in the country soon enough.

It was all so indefinite, including the dates. Which explains why there’s an emotional vacuum for Juneteenth to fill.

But should we celebrate this holiday, or anything, just now? You’re damn right we should. Just as we celebrated Thanksgiving a few months after an attack in 2001, we should celebrate Juneteenth during a pandemic with social unrest and an unsteady economy. We can’t allow what’s wrong with the country keep us from celebrating what’s right with it.

Remember when civil rights was somebody else’s cause? Now it seems to be everybody’s. Juneteenth also went from a parochial, informal, almost unknown holiday into a nationally accepted one in only a matter of a few years. Its identity with one distinctive group of Americans, rather than restricting the holiday, is no barrier to its general acceptance. After all, on St. Patrick’s Day all Americans are Irish. What Americans turn down a beer at Oktoberfest?

Besides, Juneteenth is connected not only with all-American ideals like freedom and independence but … food. This year, we might not be able to attend the party as our neighbors barbecue, but remember barbecue is also a noun. We can get it to go.

Nobody knows the trouble Juneteenth’s seen, but the fact that we recognize it today shows that we can overcome. And shall.

More than a great past, Juneteenth has a great future. Like freedom itself, it all depends on what we make of it.