Juneteenth recognizes the end of slavery in United States of America and marks the anniversary of June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers came in Galveston, Texas and announced (by order) that slavery and the Civil War had both ended.
It is good that we all honor and celebrate this day.
You all know me though. I’m an inspector. And because the Emancipation Proclamation, when read carefully, reveals that it only freed slaves in states that were fighting with the Union (it didn’t free all slaves), I decided to read the Juneteenth order carefully.
I discovered something interesting about the order: 41 of the 93-word order urged slaves to stay put and keep working, albeit for wages. That says a lot IMHO.
Let us not forget that some in power today wish many of us (of all races) to be their slaves.
So on this day when we correctly look backwards, we should also look forward and make sure iron shackles aren’t being quietly replaced with an endlessly-debasing currency that consistently looses purchasing power at a rate faster than our wages increase. That is economic slavery. Be vigilant." - Nick Gromicko
That is the myth, anyway. And a very emotionally productive one, too; however, slavery in the United States did not end until the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on December 5, 1865 … almost six months later. On that date, the state of New Jersey finally agreed to free its slaves and cast the vote to finally represent two-thirds of the existing states’ ratification of the amendment.
Yes, New Jersey (like Delaware and Maryland) were slave states throughout the war … and after the war.
Most people associate slavery exclusively with the southern states and believe that the intention of the northern states was to fight a war to end slavery, which the story of “Juneteenth” perpetuates. Few know that throughout the war to bring the southern states back into the union, several states that sent soldiers who fought for the Union (Delaware, Maryland, and several others) were slave states. No one today bothers to ask “If the Union soldiers fought to end slavery in the southern states, why did they not first end it peacefully and voluntarily in their own states?”
One of the biggest embarrassments for President Lincoln in his home state was the number of Union soldiers stationed there who brought their slaves with them to cook and perform routine work for them in the camps.
After the war between the states, it became necessary to “tweak” the history a bit. Thus, it became the loser of the war that bore the brunt of the country’s slave history and this new holiday helps to keep that myth alive. Political corrections, however, are still lies no matter when you tell them.
”Texans celebrated Juneteenth beginning in 1866. As families emigrated from Texas to other parts of the United States, they carried Juneteenth celebrations with them. On January 1, 1980, Juneteenth officially became a Texas state holiday.
Nope. Slavery “for all” has never ended. States still benefit financially from the forced labor of prisoners … but the 13th Amendment freed more slaves in December of 1865 than the total number of slaves in Galveston on June 19, 1865. “Juneteenth” is little more than a hastily prepared band-aid for a federal government with no idea how to properly respond to rioting urban constituents.
Fun fact … the last elected president to have ever been a slave owner was former Union General U. S. Grant.
I could fix private prisons almost overnight. Just financially incentivize them through royalties or bonuses based on a formula that is inversely correlated to the time their prisoners spend in the prison above and beyond the mathematical bare minimum that the sentencing required… and inversely correlated to their particular released prisoners’ recidivism rate.
Private prisons are there to make money. Let them make money by releasing prisoners as fast as legally permitted and by rehabilitating them to the best of their abilities.
What we have is the reverse. Private prisons love when a prisoner gets additional time for crimes committed on the inside and love when they return quickly after being released. That’s f’d up.
