The Revision Of The True History Of Juneteenth
By Betty Jean Grant
Betty Jean Grant
This writer was going through a lot of pictures and stories as it related to our newest designated holiday: Juneteenth. Some stories had pictures of blonde, blue eyed, mothers and fathers holding cute, little blonde, blue eyed babies, smiling at the readers while waving a red & blue flag with a white star in the middle, wishing the rest of us a Happy Juneteenth!
Come on, people! What’s with the (pardon my ex pression) whitewashing of Juneteenth? Juneteenth is a Black celebration of Black people and their hopes and dreams since June 19, 1865, when enslaved Africans were finally told, one year after the fact, that they were free to leave the Plantation! The Powers that were, decided to reward the state of Texas with an extra year of free slave labor by traveling slowly to Galveston and other slave holding cities, in Texas, with the news of liberation.
The first Jubilation Celebration was held by the Black people of Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1866. It has been celebrated in that Texas city every year since then. The Texas State Legislature made the Juneteenth Celebration an official state holiday on January 1, 1980.
African Americans in Buffalo started celebrating Juneteenth in 1976. The Buffalo Juneteenth Festival Com mittee chose the colors of the Pan African Flag, the red, black and green colors that were chosen by the Honor able President of UNIA, and universal leader, Mà. Mosiah Garvey, to represent Black People everywhere. The Buf falo Juneteenth Festival has been held almost continu ously since 1976. During the deadly Covid 19 virus, the Festival was canceled in 2020 and was held via zoom and other online outlets.
The Juneteenth flag that the state of Texas and the United States Federal Government recognize, is a variation of the red & blue flag with a white star in the middle to represent the state of Texas as the Lone Star State.
Ben Haith, the founder of the National Juneteenth Holiday Committee Juneteenth Flag
In 1997, Ben Haith, the founder of the National Juneteenth Holiday Committee created the red, white & blue flag with the white star in the middle to recognize Texas as the ‘home’ of the inaugural Juneteenth Festival. The National Juneteenth Holiday Committee said that their flag’s white star represents “A New Star For A New People.” What new people are they talking about? Certainly not us. Black people have been a part of this nation long before 1620. We do not need the revised flag of the last state to free our enslaved ancestors to validate our existence or worth.
I have no problem with Galveston, Texas or any other cities using the red, blue & white, revised flag of Texas to celebrate the holiday. However, this subject came up during one of last year’s Juneteenth meetings and the Juneteenth Committee voted, at that time, to stick with tradition.
May the glorious Red, Black & Green forever wave to us from flagpoles, lined in formation on Genesee Street and Juneteenth Way, every Juneteenth Holiday for years to come.