NEVER FORGET
We the People — the beginning of the preamble of the constitution of the United States. When that document was completed on September 17, 1787, I was not included.
It was not until the end of the Civil War, on September 22, 1862, that President Abraham Lincoln historically declared the freedom of all slaves in ANY state of the Confederate States of American that did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863. This was memorialized through Lincoln's signing of “The Emancipation Proclamation”.
Technically, I was officially included. Two and a half years later on June 19th Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Thus the birth of Juneteenth!
One hundred eighty-five years after this news I was born. Free and innocent to the misdeeds of my country against a people that I was now apart of. Free to take the advantages of the opportunities paid for by the struggles, trails, death, but advancements of countless people. Ironically during that time our country was involved in the resolution of other misdeeds of the time. I offer these as example: the Vietnam War, Watergate, Abortion legislation and School Desegregation to name a few.
We the People – we the people of America of all races, colors, cultures and creeds have come such a great distance in our social interactions, morals and philosophy. It hasn’t been pretty or easy, and we have not “stepped into the promise land” as of yet. But we’re on the right road.
Continue with Tim Valentine's "My Celebration of Juneteenth"