On this Juneteenth we celebrate freedom from slavery, but we also remember the tragic...
At that time, because of the amount of human cargo that funneled through it, Galveston was the wealthiest city in Texas and also the capital of what was then called the Republic of Texas. When Granger and his troops arrived, joined by thousands of soldiers from Black regiments, they came to enforce a freedom that inhabitants of Texas were already aware of.
Imagine this scene: the sound of a whip tearing through flesh, the sight of thorn-pricked hands, the cries of mothers torn from babies, the anguished moans of fathers sold off, knowing they’d never see their families again. Only if you can feel, hear, taste, smell and touch this trauma can you understand the significance of Juneteenth.
We could feel them with us, speaking to us, rejoicing alongside us, moving through us at the cookout as we Stanky Legged, wobbled, Cupid Shuffled, did the Cha Cha Slide, twerked, jerked, dougied. We harnessed the electrical current of liberation in church as we shouted, spoke in tongues, fell out in the spirit. As Baby Suggs, the holy woman in Toni Morrison’s “Beloved,” urged, on that day we loved our flesh and our heart, for loving those parts as we saw fit was the true prize of freedom.
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