what is Juneteenth?

 Black communities in Idaho rejoice on Juneteenth with food, dance, and community.

Source

In the Gem State, including Boise, Twin Falls, Lapwai, and Rexburg, celebrations were planned.

Juneteenth Idaho and the Black Liberation Collective collaborated with a variety of community groups and Black-owned companies for a weekend-long celebration, including The Honey Pot CBD, 2C Yoga, Honey's Holistics, Cut-N-Up, and Amina's African Sambusas.

Juneteenth has historically been observed by Black communities across the nation to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved African Americans at the end of the Civil War, despite the fact that it just became a public holiday last year.

The federal proclamation designating the date a federal holiday stated that on June 19, 1865, more than two years after President (Abraham) Lincoln declared all enslaved people free

As home ownership is a significant contributor to wealth, legislation to forbid discrimination in home appraisals (A1519/S777) can be passed in order to advance economic equity. Additionally, a Baby Bonds programme can be established to give low-income youngsters, many of whom are people of colour, the tools they need to thrive and make a smooth transition into adulthood (A1579/S768). The stark racial wealth inequality in New Jersey would be reduced thanks to both of these bills.

Finally, we can enact A938/S386, which would establish a Reparations Task Force to investigate the particular inequities in our state and suggest policy measures to remedy them, to undo the harm caused by New Jersey's deep origins in slavery and its ongoing effects.

This legislation is tactical. They are strong. They are also achievable.

Happy Freedom Day

Most critically, they will advance us on our continued path to achieving the freedom promised but unfulfilled on that fateful day in 1865. Let's celebrate Juneteenth this year, then. But let's also pass legislation to give that celebration actual meaning.

Visit our Action Center to tell your political authorities to take action immediately.

Myth #2: Major General Gordon Granger  is credited with writing General Order No. 3, or the Juneteenth Order, which is known for freeing slaves in Texas.

Fact: Maj. Frederick Emery, a staff officer for Granger who came from an abolitionist family in Free Kansas, really wrote the order, which contains the forceful phrases "all slaves are free" and "total equality." In his Juneteenth book, Cotham claims that Emery was knowledgeable about liberation because he fought against slavery in Kansas.

Sam Collins III, an unofficial spokesperson for Galveston's Juneteenth tourism, claims: "Granger is merely one of the story's many protagonists. He isn't really a terrific hero. He was actually no ally of the oppressed people. According to rumours, Granger sent fugitive slaves back to slave states."

Myth #3: General Gordon Granger 

                                                          General Gordon Granger 

said that "all slaves are free" while reading the Juneteenth Order to Galveston residents from a balcony. Cotham asserts that neither Gen. Granger nor any member of his staff ever read the order aloud in public. Reedy Chapel-AME Church, then known as "the Negro Church on Broadway," would have been one of the locations where it would have been shown. When the slavemaster gathered them and delivered them the news, the majority of the enslaved people in Texas were informed of General Orders No. 3.

Myth #4: The Emancipation Proclamation was just a Texas adaptation of the Juneteenth Order.

Fact: General Orders No. 3 contained patronizing language to placate planters who didn't want to lose their labor force, but it also clearly stated that "all slaves are free." The brief 93-word edict included 41 words that instructed those who were still in their current location and continued their labor.

They are informed that they will not be supported in their idleness anywhere, even military bases, and that they will not be allowed to collect there."

David Cotham "The former slaves (interviewed for the 1930s WPA Slave Narratives) recalled hearing the Freedom Paper read to them many years before. They didn't interpret the slaveowner's intention to keep them in service in that way. They said to hell with you as soon as they heard "all slaves are free." The Juneteenth Order was successful because of this, which is what made it so memorable."