A Note about Juneteenth

I was given this book by a friend more than four months ago and I’m still not done. I’m currently reading about Angola prison and its history within the gargantuan U.S. tapestry called “history about enslaved people in the U.S.” There are sections in this book so descriptive, yet so important to read as a descendent of those who justified and supported slavery, and then of those who also lost their lives for an idea that would finally abolish slavery…that I have lost sleep.

Put the book down.

Picked it back up.

And shed tears more than once.

Works like this make us at the same time understand some degree of what enslaved persons experienced and make us realize just how much we truly don’t know. And were not taught as children in our K-12 public education system.

This book isn’t an end all for me in my own journey about how to reconcile, regard, and respect the holy ground where unnamed slaves are buried. And it’s not a be all as a source of understanding the moral depravation of treating fellow humans as property. But it is a start and I recommend it if you’ve not yet started this journey of learning about the impacts of, and experienced by, enslaved people in the U.S. and around the world.

I don’t know when I’ll finish it but I can say it’s one of the best and worst gifts I’ve ever been lent. As we honor the reason for Juneteenth, may we also honor the necessity to understand the full breadth of why it’s on our calendar and why it’s so important for so many. No, for us ALL.