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JUNETEENTH: 

FREEDOM DAY-EMANCIPATION DAY 

and REUNIFICATION DAY 

The emancipation of 4 million enslaved Africans in 1865 secured by the Union victory in the Civil War was the 2nd most significant historical moment in our nation's history next to our gaining independence. So, Independence Day July 4th and Emancipation Day June 19 should rightly be celebrated by all Americans as historical moments of triumph for democracy that bends "the arc of the universe towards justice" (Dr. ML King, Jr.)

It is a triumph that we now have Juneteenth designated as a federal holiday and recognized by 49 states. Celebrated traditionally by African Americans as that day, June 19, 1865, when General Granger read General Order No.3 in Galveston, Texas proclaiming that all enslaved persons are free. Those sounds of jubilation on that day by those who were formerly enslaved still resound all around our country today.

I proclaim now that Juneteenth should be celebrated by every American as Emancipation/Freedom Day but also as Reunification Day.

As a nation we need to remember that for 5 years we were a bloodstained and divided country torn into two separate nations with different flags, currency,  constitutions, capitals, and presidents. It was the entry of 180,000 Black men and women into the war that secured the Union victory, reunited our country and made Juneteenth possible. (Some women disguised themselves as men in order to serve as soldiers, and of course our beloved Harriet Tubman was a most valuable Union Army spy.)

Have you ever thought about what our country would look like if the Confederacy had won the war rather than the Union? We might right now look like North Korea-South Korea, or what used to be North Vietnam-South Vietnam, or East Germany-West Germany. We would be a very  different looking North America land mass if there was a United States of Confederates and a United States of Yankees. In fact, the entire world. ... configuration of countries, political movements, economic systems, religious systems....would ALL look very different as well. For example Germany right now could be the Nazi-fisted ruler of Europe and Asia. There would also be no UN, no EU, no NATO, ....no USA!

So why we don't celebrate this reunification is perplexing to me still. And I think the reason why is because it would be so closely aligned with Juneteenth and the emancipation of 4 million enslaved African Americans. It has taken us 150 years as a nation to embrace Juneteenth, but I hope it doesn't take us another 100 years to celebrate and honor Reunification Day which has personal family significance to me.

In my family, we had three great great grandfathers that mustered in at Camp Nelson and fought with the US Colored Troops: brothers Jackson and George Ballew on my Mom's side of the family and Lewis Gilbert on my Dad's side. They were all from the plantation farms in Madison County, KY. Some 28,000 Black troops from Kentucky served which was the 2nd highest number of any state. 

Jackson Ballew served with the 12th Regiment and died early in the war. He is my direct lineage great great grandfather who left his widow, Elizabeth Ballew, with 7 children aged 16 to 2 years old. After the Civil War, Elizabeth not only survived after the death of her husband, but thrived since all of her children eventually owned small farms and her youngest son, Don Carlos, my great grandfather, went to Berea College in 1879, became a schoolteacher and began our family tradition as agrarian intellectual activists. Women like Elizabeth literally "made a way out of no way!"  By most people's standard, she would be considered as "illiterate" since she could not read or write. But thanks to Elizabeth, who tenaciously survived with her children and inspired them all to "lift as you climb", I can write this post today! 

 (Elizabeth, like Harriet Tubman, struggled for 30 years seeking pension compensation for her husband's war service.)

 So Juneteenth, for me, is very much about remembering and honoring such ancestors as my great great grandmother, Elizabeth, and all others who lived with the conviction of:

"Just like Moons and like Suns; with the certainty of tides; just like hopes springing high; and still I'll rise". (Maya Angelou)

George Ballew and Lewis Gilbert served with the 114th Regiment which fought against and surrounded General Lee in Virginia to force his surrender to General Grant. George and Lewis were both present at Appomattox on April 9, 1865. Later in mid-May, the 114th Regiment was shipped off to Texas to defeat the remaining confederate troops, secure the border and create a safe environment for General Grainger to arrive. We must remember that Generals don't actually fight in the wars.They wait until the coast is clear, the dust is settled, and then they appear for the formal ceremonies like reading proclamations, executive orders,  and such.

But it was the sight of 10,000 Black troops marching down the streets of Galveston that angered white folks but also inspired our enslaved ancestors to shout “Hallelujah!” and jump for joy. We ought to alter the narrative of Juneteenth as not solely the act of General Granger but additionally the actions of these courageous Black troops that fought for their own freedom, the freedom of their wives, children, family and friends and fought to restore the union.

The majority of the 180,000 Black men and women who enlisted to fight in the Civil War and my three great-great grandfathers were listed on their 

rolls as "farmers". So, when I'm speaking about the US ColoredTroops, I call this collective effort, the "legalized armed insurrection of Black farmers". These soldiers, who were listed as farmers, put down their hoes, shovels and farm tools and picked up rifles and swords. When the Civil War ended, many of these soldiers returned to farming and then turned their swords into ploughshares.(Isaiah 2:4)

 So when I celebrate Juneteenth, I'm  recognizing and honoring absolutely our collective struggles for freedom, our rich cultural traditions that we carried with us from Africa as well as those traditions developed here on Turtle Island and I'm proudly remembering and honoring members of my family and all their various contributions to these struggles and traditions. 

 Our country still needs reckoning, reconciliation, reparations, regeneration, reinvisioning, and reunification.

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be! (Langston Hughes)

Into your palm I place the ashes
Into your palm are the ashes of your
people
burnt in the Alabama night
Into your hand that holds your babies
into your palm that feeds your infants
into your palm that holds the work tools
I place the ashes of your brother and your
sister
I place the ashes of your father and your
mother
here are the ashes of your husbands and
your wives
Take the ashes of your nation
and create the cement to build again
Create the spirits to move again
Take this soul dust and begin again.
(Ed Bullins, Creation Spell)

We will rebuild, reconcile and recoverand every known nook of our nation andevery corner called our country,our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,The new dawn blooms as we free it, For there is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it, If only we're brave enough to be it.  (Amanda Gorman)

Juneteenth is a time to remember, change the narrative and envision our future.

Written proudly by Jim Embry, embryjim@gmail.com

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These are other links to my Juneteenth interviews, essays and event posters:

1) Jim Embry "re-enacted interview" with WCPO-TV in Covington at 11th and Greenup Park with Robin Williams and Yahya Abdul-Hafeez.  I was invited by these dear friends to join them back in February when they were being interviewed by WCPO TV about the Covington board of commissioners voting to recognize Juneteenth as a paid holiday. Interestingly enough, none of my comments made it into the evening news, but my comments wound up on the Covington city government website about Juneteenth quoted by dear friend, Adul-Hafeez.

https://youtu.be/2IDkklIDDhw

2) Keynote presentation at Stanford University with our daughter, Ayodele Thomas, Juneteenth Recognition 2021

https://youtu.be/RrcQz3mQu20

3) My essay, Ancestral Vibrations Guide our Connections to the Land, as part of the book, We Are Each Other’s Harvest,  by Natalie Baszile,  author also of Queen Sugar. 

https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/jq050rt9867

4) Stanford University promotional

No other event in American history affected the development of our country more than the Civil War.

 poster for their 2021 Juneteenth Recognition

 https://laneblog.stanford.edu/2021/06/15/juneteenth-african-american-independence-day/

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