Juneteenth Opportunist And The Protection Of Emancipation History
By Morgan Malachi, Tubman House Center For Reparative Justice
The Juneteenth Holiday, also known as Emancipation Day and Freedom Day, is here and we at Tubman House Center For Reparative Justice have another Call to Action for American Freedmen. June 19, 1865 is an important day in American history. Major General. Gordon Granger marched Union soldiers to Galveston, Texas to tell enslaved black Americans the Civil War was over and the Union had won. Slavery was now abolished in the United States. This event was 166 years ago. The name “Juneteenth,” recognizes the date of General Granger’s announcement in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865.
The Civil War ended in April 1865. Although the war ended, enslaved people in Texas were unaware of their freedom. June 19, 1865 represents the ultimate struggle of American Freedmen to take all our people with us, to make all our people free. Not just some, but all. Juneteenth became a Texas state holiday in 1979 even though the holiday was celebrated as early as June 1866.
Pennsylvania Emancipation Day leans to being February 3, 1865, this is the date Pennsylvania ratified the Thirteenth Amendment. The amendment was submitted for ratification to all states on February 1, 1865. Pennsylvania State Representative Chris. Rabb introduced legislation on Feb 3, 2022. He states,
“I believe in celebrating parts of our history that honor true liberty and justice, but only in context,”
“While the 13th Amendment abolished slavery – we cannot forget that it would be another century before African Americans even had a semblance of equality.”
The Philadelphia Tribune posted this political cartoon of a government building depicting an arm of prejudice beating plans for Negro Emancipation Exposition with a hammer. These expositions were slated to occur all over the country in 1913.
The Pennsylvania Emancipation Exposition was organized in 1913 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation in Philadelphia. Congress was supposed to financially support the event which did not happen. Activists across Philadelphia were given $95,000 in state funding, obtained by Harry W. Bass. Bass was a Lincoln University and University of Pennsylvania law school graduate who went on to become a two term Pennsylvania state representative. The exposition was held at what is now called Marconi Plaza at Broad and Oregon Avenues. Ironically, this is the same location where the descendants of Italian immigrants later launched a violent attack to “protect” the Columbus statue in the summer of June 2020.
The Italian community in South Philly criticized and tried to obstruct the exposition with building permit denials etc. Freedmen Philadelphians nevertheless succeed in organizing and constructing an Agricultural and Administration building with plenty of space to hold lectures and concerts. The attendance was documented at 5,000 visitors to the Emancipation Exposition. This also included a parade on Girard avenue in which 25,000-50,000 were estimated to be in the crowd. The buildings at Marconi Plaza were demolished and the history largely forgotten.These are the stories of American Freedmen that must be resurrected in our modern fight for lineage based reparations.
This Juneteenth, Tubman House Center For Reparative Justice planned on being at Malcolm X Park for the Juneteenth parade and festival in West Philadelphia to distribute information about lineage based reparations. We paid $320 to reserve a spot for our table. Felicia Williams, owner of Hi Touch Inc was the company contracted to organize the event. We reached out twice to Williams’ Vendor Managers Rachel Henry and Lily Duong through email for a discount code that was sent out to vendors weeks after the spot was already purchased. Our organization never received the advertised discount as of the Zoom meeting for vendors on Jun 1, 2022 at 6pm.
We attended the June 1st meeting and immediately noticed the original date of the event was changed from Saturday June 18, 2022 to Sunday June 19, 2022. When we purchased the spot on May 4, 2022 we were simultaneously making a flier for the event and referred to the advertised date on the official website. At this time we also noticed the color scheme for the PowerPoint presentation did not properly represent the history of Juneteenth. We sent a comment in the chat telling the organizers the Juneteenth colors have historically been red, white and blue, not red black, and green. None of the organizers responded to the chat comment. We unmuted our microphone to ask the organizers why the date of the events had changed and why vendors had not been notified. We also mentioned that we made fliers advertising our presence at the event and had been distributing them. Felicia Williams of Hi Touch Inc responded with a curt retort warning us that we “should not be distributing official Juneteenth fliers anyway.” We then asked her if she was saying we weren’t permitted to advertise the spot we purchased. Williams stated that was not the case. This simple communication was incredibly disrespectful and unprofessional. Later in the meeting we repeated our question about the color scheme for the event. The event planners doubled down on the colors and a nameless man started yelling on the call. We were then kicked out the Zoom call.
Tubman House Center For Reparative Justice is a grassroots organization working with other organizations around the country to advocate for lineage based reparations. Juneteenth is the holiday of our ancestors and our heritage. We must make this plain. A reparations organization for American Freedmen was treated with disrespect and obstruction from people not of our lineage who are controlling Philadelphia Juneteenth celebrations. We want American Freedmen to understand the contempt that we experienced for simply advocating for a proper and historically sound representation of Juneteenth. When Freedmen start gatekeeping our history and hold people/entities accountable, we are met with insults, disdain, gaslighting and tone-policing. The sell-outs, the POC activists, and Pan-Africanists have gained control of the historical narrative of Juneteenth. We experienced this dynamic on the Zoom call. This situation is not an anomaly; this is happening nationally amongst Juneteenth events. Where was the corporate sponsorship for our ancestors that were locked out of generational wealth in this country? These situations will no longer go on unchecked.
Juneteenth is not a holiday for all people. It is a day for Freedmen in Texas. No individual or company should be able to co-opt the message and history of this historic American Freedmen event. We cannot allow grifters to corporatize Junteenth or change its meaning to the Freedmen community Many examples of how American Freedmen throughout history honored the holiday point to the use of red, white and blue at these Emancipation Day celebrations by formerly enslaved-people. We cannot allow those outside of our community to dictate how we will practice our sacred traditions. All Black people are not American Freedmen. All People of Color are not American Freedmen. This is a notice to all non-Freedmen. You will stop the blatant disrespect of the history and sacrifice of our community.
Juneteenth needs to return to its roots. Juneteenth should not be commemorated by a parade or festival until ALL American Freedmen get their justice claim which is lineage based reparations. There is nothing to celebrate at this point in our history. We owe it to the Freedmen community to be clear and intentional about winning the battle for reparations. We must be unapologetic and confrontational about our ethnic boundaries. This starts now. Tubman House Center For Reparative Justice has prepared a list of measures that can be used to guide our actions. It is imperative that we become more disciplined and serious about every aspect of our culture. Here is a list that can help you celebrate Juneteenth. We will continue to assess the situation nationally and provide updates to community members.
Prepare a menu for you and your family. Your meal should consist of soul food and the dishes traditional to Juneteenth. (We also implore you to research your state’s/city’s Emancipation Day.
This should be a remembrance day for the emancipation of our people and the struggle we endure as we fight for our full liberation. This is a day of reflection and strengthening of the labor and pain Freedmen sacrificed to build America. Parades are celebratory events that signify victory and self-determination. Freedmen should not participate in parades until Freedmen have the power to fully control every aspect of American Freedmen Emancipation Day Parades (Juneteenth included).
Organize counter outings akin to our Black family reunion traditions in city/state parks that American Freedmen communities frequent. Include a decorated car procession with traditional Juneteenth colors (Red, White and Blue).
Freedmen should refrain from observing Juneteenth by participating in the commercialization of this Emancipation Day. Anything purchased to celebrate the holiday should be purchased as intentionally as possible from American Freedmen community members.
American Freedmen with skills-sets that can assist in making items to protect against the co-optation of Juneteenth should dedicate time to offering paid services/goods to the Freedmen community for Juneteenth. Goods can be specially made once a year for the Juneteenth holiday. A Freedmen merchant registry advertised by city/state should be placed on every credible Freedmen media outlet.
The overall theme for Juneteenth is the remembrance of the struggle of a specific group of people. That specific group is the Colored, the Negro, the Black American, The African American, the American Freedmen. Different names, same specific ethnic group. Those names represent the history of the Freedmen struggle for liberation in America. American Freedmen must protect Juneteenth. Tubman House Center For Reparative Justice is here to do just that. Join us American Freedmen family!