A Juneteenth Perspective

Any good #communicator will tell you how important #context is to helping people understand.

Context puts things in #perspective. It helps shed light on factors that may have led to certain behaviors and actions or why things are the way they are. With context, there are also usually lessons -- to repeat or to never let happen again.

Here we are on #Juneteenth, which commemorates a critical slice of American history. When you know the historical context, you understand that President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, or the pronouncement by Union General Gordon Granger more than two years later of the end of slavery to enslaved Texans on June 19, 1865, did not instantly end slavery for Black people in America. In many ways, it was just the beginning of our continuing march toward freedom -- through Jim Crow, Black Codes, the Civil Rights Movement, better housing, equal voting, equal employment, equal pay, etc.!

These truths should not be buried, burned or banned. This is why I am pleased to see Juneteenth as a federal holiday and that many companies give their employees the day off to mark the anniversary.

How you observe the day is up to you, but I will offer an easy suggestion. Listen to these two songs, which for me stir up a deep well of emotion about the importance of #freedom and why we must continue to fight for it. Also, Google the song writers to learn their history.

"Lift Every Voice and Sing," James Weldon Johnson

"I wish I Knew How to Be Free," Nina Simone

Happy Juneteenth to us all!