Last week I took advantage of the Eid a-Adha holiday to atone for the deficiencies in my spine caused by the fact that I am not Muslim. This week I want to continue my journey of atonement to remind you, dear readers, that I am not black either.
Last week, on Wednesday, June 19, African Americans celebrated Juneteenth. All of America should be celebrating with them. I confess that until this year I considered Juneteenth and Kwanzaa to be a somewhat artificial black identity holiday. I will consider the meaning of Kwanzaa at another time, but I can say without a doubt that I was wrong about the eleventh month, which I will try to find a way to celebrate from now on.
Juneteenth is a holiday that began and took root in the black communities of Texas. Celebrated June 19, 1865, as the day U.S. Army General Gordon Granger announced in Galveston, Texas, that slavery was over. Of course, the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed two years earlier, but it only applied to areas controlled by the U.S. Army and Confederate forces in Texas, which was part of the Confederacy, didn’t surrender until June 2, 1865—so eleventh. Granger wrote:
“The people of Texas are hereby informed that, in accordance with a proclamation of the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and property rights between former masters and slaves, and the connection hitherto existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.”
Of course, declaring freedom and achieving freedom are two very different things and the fight to eliminate the traces of slavery would, and will, take generations to achieve. In fact, Granger’s proclamation occurred two months after Lincoln’s assassination, and the eleventh month did not become an official holiday in Texas until 1980.
The simple reason why Juneteenth should have broader appeal was revealed to me in a single striking passage in a wonderful 2020 New Yorker article by Annette Gordon-Reed. (“Growing up with Juneteenth: How a Texas holiday became a national tradition.” – June 19, 2020
Gordon-Reed wrote:
“Today, there is a strong movement to make June 19th a national holiday. If you think about it, it’s surprising that there isn’t a date that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.”
I am 77 years old and I am ashamed and humbled that I never realized this fact until now. The 4th of July is the closest thing, but it celebrates America’s liberation from England and not its freedom from slavery. Each major culture or faith can be judged by what it chooses to celebrate and then by assigning a date to the celebration on the sacred calendar. Passover is the Jewish holiday that celebrates the end of slavery in Egypt and has a date that brings this exodus from the house of slavery to memory and gratitude every year. Easter is the Christian holiday that celebrates salvation from the world’s original sin and the saving sacrificial crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. This salvation has a date and is celebrated every year as part of Christian history. The two great Muslim festivals of Eid al-fitr and eid al-Adha celebrate Muhammad’s journey towards freedom for al-Islam. They have dates on a lunar calendar and more than 2 million Muslims have just completed the ritual reenactment of Muhammad’s pilgrimage. Wesak is the birth date of the Buddha and Buddhists celebrate this birth and the path to enlightenment (nirvana) that the Buddha taught. Wesak has a date.
So how come there isn’t a holiday that celebrates the end of slavery in America? Martin Luther King Day celebrates him and his sacred mission to make freedom real for all Americans, but it does not commemorate and celebrate America’s first, bloodiest and most heroic decision to exclude and transcend slavery. Juneteenth does that and the movement to make it a national holiday now includes me.
I have no idea what rituals should accompany the national Juneteenth celebration, but time will tell. Gordon-Reed wrote that the rituals she remembered most about celebrating Juneteenth as a child in Texas included drinking red soda and eating grilled goat.
Count me in on red pop.
Count me in the goat.
Happy eleventh month
Please send ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS to The God Squad by email at godquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including “Religion for Dummies,” co-written with Father Tom Hartmann. Additionally, the new God Squad podcast is now available.
