Happy Juneteenth!

As a Texan girl I have to commemorate Juneteenth! It’s kinda sad that we celebrate the fact that we learned we were free two and half years late (talk about a 6 second delay) but hey at least we got the news!! And when we got the news in true Texan form we celebrated and we have been celebrating every since 1865 on this day when the Union soldiers landed in Galveston and let us know we were free!!

Juneteenth has always been a big holiday where I’m from, Houston metropolitan area, with parades and Miss Juenteenth pageants, barbeque and huge picnics! It was way more fun than the 4th. As with all things common to the Diaspora Juneteenth migrated all across this country as Texan born slaves moved to other US cities. It seems they celebrate it everywhere these days, Buschick shared they even celebrate in Seattle. I am searching Google now to see if these Boston blacks do anything. I would have to say based on my limited experience in exposure to the black community here, I’m not too hopeful, but we shall see. I was a little sad to see there wasn’t any real celebration for Malcolm’s birthday (May 19th) here. I ran across a small luncheon the weekend after which was sad, considering he lived on these fair streets of Roxbury in his teenage years and there’s a Malcolm X Blvd (I still have yet to find MLK here), I guess I expected more. But hey it was something! So hopefully I will find some people somewhere celebrating the holiday this weekend and if not, I guess I'll just fire up the grill and do the DAMN THING myself!!

Happy Juenteenth people and celebrate the freedom that was really always ours!!

Be EZ
OG

Comments

Unknown said…
Happy Juneteenth, OG!!!

I'm sure you'll find people up there to celebrate with, I hope that you'll share your Texas traditions and drop some knowledge on the Yankee Fam.

Oh and drink one to the Celtics too :)
Keith said…
You know ,I never heard of Juneteenth until I was about 24 or 25 years old. I was in San-Antonio that year and was told about this "Black Holiday" that was celebrated mostly in Texas and Louisiana. I don't recall it ever being mentioned here in Philly or
Jersey or New York. Being the festive kinda guy I am...I look for any reason to barbecue and celebrate. So Happy Juneteeth to ya...I'm going to fire up that grill tonight after I leave work!!
Anonymous said…
Girl it is storming out here! The nerve of it to be raining for Juneteenth! lol
Sister Girl said…
Happy Juneteenth,girl !

If you toss some chicken and/or shrimp on the grill,I'll be the offical taster for you(*grin*).

And I'll even tidy up after you make all that mess(LOL)
LISA VAZQUEZ said…
Hey there OG!

Juneteenth is one of those "black holidays" that I am just shaking my head about WHY we even acknowledge that we were bamboozled into NOT knowing we had been freed!!

But...as you said...at least we DID find out!

{sigh}
Lisa
Unknown said…
So I'm home a lunch watching the local noon news and guess what I see? The Norfolk Juneteenth Festival at the park this weekend! Yea!
Mizrepresent said…
Happy Juneteenth. Yep, that is such an interesting story, in fact i didn't hear about Juneteenth, and the story behind it until about 10 years ago on the TJMS show. They teach all kind of history, but never our own, amazing!

Well fire up that grill then and do it TEXAS style!
WNG- Alright then have fun I wish I could stumble across such. I think because of Katrina you will see more Juneteenth celebrations in new places because LA also celebrates the holiday due to the proximity to TX. They ran a picture of Miss Juneteenth from Austin in the metro today!! BTW I'm gonna drink as many GREEN drinks as I can fro the Celts this weekend

Keith- it is crazy just how many blacks up this way don’t know nothing abut Juneteenth, but seeing as slavery in the north was gone a while before the south it makes sense.

Leva- RAIN? Well better to rain now than on the weekend after the holiday when they REAL party can go down.

Lisa- Yes it’s a bittersweet holiday but I definitely enjoy the tradition it reminds us of how far we have come and encourages me to keep striving to go further

SG- Anytime, anytime…especially if you are offering to clean, but all the way to Boston for shrimp?

Miz- Thank goodness for TJ and his 365 days of BLACK history!

-OG

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