Celebrating the Teenth

JUNE TEENTH is about as arbitrary as all other holidays, save the solstices and equinoxes. The name almost implies some early confusion about the precise date, although newspaper and other record seem indeed to indicate that the nineteenth was the day when the ship arrived in Galveston Harbor, with the news. In late June, 1776, in Philapelphia, John Amdams predicted that in the future, the first day of June weach year will be celebrated all across America, in every town and city, as our greatest national holiday. They took three days longer than he expected to ratify the declaration of independence, we all know how committees work, but still, not a bad guess for Mr. Adams. Christmas is a compromise out of respect for the important nordic holiday, the winter solstice. Jesus was actually probably born..when...early April? I had never actuallly heard of "Juneteenth" until a few years ago, despite my degrees in history. So much for formal education. several years ago I overheard an old man, a KKK type, exclaim: "today is nigger day". It was perfectly obvious to me at the time that he was trying to be insulting, so I reported him to the proper authorities, who admonished him sternly. Not that long thereafter he stopped coming to the community center, and, by now, might be no longer living, as they say. I tend to think that he became indignant that any public place in the American south would have the audacity to admit people who object to the "N Word". To him, it was normal. He was raised that way. Yet, we have to change, if we want to grow, improve, create a better world for our descendants.Junetenth as a national holidayis, it seems to me, a step in that direction, the right direction. If the old man is still alive, and I hope he is, he must be appalled at making N.....day a national holiday. In scattered locations, in churchpicnics, parades, and concerts, Juneteenth has been around awhile, all the way back to June 19th, 1865. Now, quite suddenly, perhaps partly inspired by George Floyd and Black Lives Matter, it appears to be taking flight, taking off like a rocket, and rapidly becoming a major American holiday. Teh next few years should prove inteereting in observing its continued growth and spread. In a country in which the final notification to the last remaining group of enslaved Americans that their emancipation had finally come is a major holiday, it would, seemingly, be somewhat difficult if not altogether impossible to maintain a public school system in which the complete, true, accurate history of slavery, segregation, discrimination, and racism in American history, society, and culture is not taught. As they say, "Let that sink in".