Heard of Juneteenth?

On June 19 in 1865 the Union Army, led by Major General Gordon Granger, marched onto Galveston Island, Texas to take possession of the State from the Confederates and to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation which had legally abolished slavery in the US two years earlier. When they heard the news, former slaves danced in the streets. The next year, former slaves celebrated the anniversary of their being free, creating the first Juneteenth celebration.

Here we are 144 years later and so much has changed for African Americans that it’s almost breathtaking to consider, i.e. an African American President; more African Americans in the middle and upper classes than ever before and most recently just two days ago, the US Senate – APOLOGIZING for slavery!  I’m hoping you heard about this, even if you may not know about Juneteenth.

The Senate resolution was sponsored by Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, and it "acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery," and "apologizes to African Americans on behalf of the people of the United States for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow laws."

Wow.  We’ve come a long way baby. But please remember, we’ve got a long way to go: African American unemployment and high-school dropout rates are twice that of whites, to list just two examples.  Happy Juneteenth!