The Juneteenth holiday arrives again this year with evidence of the most widespread disease in America. It is an often-contagious type all-seasons flu – with strangely addictive qualities. Most people have it, but they don't seem to know it. The most appropriate name for it is – Propaganda Addiction Syndrome – Juneteenth style. It afflicts all who don't know how to avoid it and those who have no idea where to find the cure – to be discussed momentarily.
The people who create the collective spin, the twists, the lies – the propaganda – in the telling and retelling of American stories – past, present, and future – see themselves as proud Americans. They believe – "America first by any means necessary. Dirty deeds allowed" – if not expected. They are fully aware and proud of their ancestor's violent and evil ways.
In this American tradition of mythmaking, we get stories of enslavers as liberators in varied contexts – truth flipped on its head. We also get Black holidays triggered by the appearance of White saviors – as with Union Army General Gordon Granger and the pseudo-patriotic mythology of Juneteenth.
As the story goes, Gen. Granger arrived in Galveston, TX on June 19, 1865 to announce to Black people who were supposedly unaware that "all slaves are free" in the state of Texas. According to this classic example of American-style propaganda, Black people were clueless about the most meaningful aspect of their own reality – their freedom – because their White enslavers had not informed them, according to these diabolical lies.
The twists and turns in this story keep on coming as we dig into it, beginning with the fact that Gen. Granger and his troops actually arrived in Galveston, TX on June 18, 1865. Granger then read General Order #3 from a balcony the following day, effectively transforming – not ending – enslavement in Texas, among other things.
Another strange twist comes with learning that the Emancipation Proclamation does not say what most people think it does. It was issued two years into the Civil War while the Union Army was engaged in heavy fighting with the Confederate Army – and applied only to states that are "in rebellion against the United States." Black people remained enslaved by law in all other states until the 13th Amendment was ratified in December 1865, still allowing slavery to continue in the emerging prison industry until today.
In other words, the Emancipation Proclamation was an act of war with perilous consequences for Black people who tried to live by it. That explains the devastating violence and unsupported challenges Black people experienced trying to live freely in Texas and other Confederate states after the proclamation. But it also reveals precisely why our ancestors continued to be enslaved there until American slavery was increasingly transformed – but not abolished in Texas and America – with the reading of General Order #3 on June 19, 1865.
Another twist comes with an understanding of simple math. With that, General Order #3 must certainly have been issued after General Orders #1 and 2. Yet, there is no discussion about them in the varied stories and propaganda laced narratives about Juneteenth.
In series 1 / volume 48 / part 2 of the official record of the Civil War – "The War of the Rebellion" – it is revealed that five General Orders were declared on June 19, 1865. By properly understanding all five orders and the conditions they were responding to and established going forward, we get the opportunity to cure ourselves of Propaganda Addiction Syndrome – Juneteenth style by learning the exact reason why Black people remained enslaved in Texas for an additional two-and-a-half years.
In summary, Order #1 announced Gen. Granger was reclaiming Texas as Union territory on behalf of the United States; Order #2 released Confederate soldiers and declared the U.S. government – and its varied departments – was officially back in charge; Order #3 ended slavery; Order #4 declared Union ownership of all Confederate property; and General Order #5 outlined rules to transition from slavery to paid labor, including warning newly freed Blacks not to congregate at military bases seeking protection from violently angry former enslavers attempting to "protect their way of life."
Order #5 also warned Black people against the White authorities thinking they were not busy enough, as idleness became common grounds for the arrest and re-enslavement of countless Black people in the suddenly expanding prison system. None of the rules for the shift from slavery to paid labor were to the advantage of newly freed and struggling Black people. Sharecropping, Jim Crow, and imprisonment emerged as new American industries and institutions in this period, reestablishing slavery by another name.
The conversion of American slavery was completed with ratification of the 13th Amendment almost six months later – on December 6, 1865. Full acceptance by all fifty states was delayed by one-hundred-thirty-years with Mississippi finally signing on in March 1995.
Now, to explain why I have repeatedly stated American slavery was converted with passage of the 13th Amendment, not eliminated. Anyone can read the actual text of the 13th Amendment where it explains that slavery still exists in the American prison system, by design, making private prison owners and stockholders modern day enslavers.
Black people repeating the lie that our ancestors didn't know slavery had ended at Juneteenth gatherings throughout the country today cause me to feel both pity and anger. Most don't know they are repeating pseudo-patriotic mythology when they repeat the that lie. More tragically, they show how they have allowed the never-ending stream of American propaganda to reduce their perceptions of our ancestor's intelligence and awareness of their environment to that of a complete population of the deaf, dumb, and blind. They show, indisputably, that they haven't read or studied the history themselves, or received proper instruction from anyone who has.
The truth remains hidden away from them in books.
Their ongoing confusion contrasts against the readily available cure – which has already been revealed. It begins with asking the right questions and knowing or learning where to find the best answers.
In this case, virtually all who are afflicted has the required tool for healing in their hands or otherwise nearby. In fact, some are reading this article while using it.
A simple search to read about the origins of Juneteenth, followed by a more detailed search of the right sources the internet and AI will readily provide, will reveal the truth. That effort can take us directly to the best information to explain what Juneteenth was really all about – and the real reason why our ancestors in Texas remained enslaved for two-and-a-half extra years.
Simply put, it's because Texas was a Confederate state. But not only that, Texas was where the confederacy waged its final stand and saw its ultimate demise confirmed.
That's why our ancestors remained enslaved there until June 19, 1865 – and some beyond that.
So, as we celebrate Juneteenth this year, let us pay rightful respect to the memory of our African ancestors who suffered and struggled under levels of oppression the world had never seen, bent but not broken, so that we can do our part here today. We should feel some sense of obligation to not only honor their memory and cherish their struggle and suffering, but to also commit to never being deceived again about who they were and what they knew.
We can accomplish that very easily by simply trusting ourselves to do the work required to know instead of being deceived by believing what we have been told by others who don't want us to know the truth.
With that we call on Black Americans to consider celebrating or commemorating Juneteenth in a manner similar to the last day of Kwanzaa – the Day of Meditation. In this way, instead of just partying and celebrating the end of enslavement before it is actually achieved, we should be thinking, studying, plotting, planning, and doing the remaining work required to make the complete end of enslavement an actual reality as we work to create the world we want to live in, otherwise.
If on this day and every day we practiced unity in defining a new and self-determined understanding of this part our story; worked together to spread it far and wide for the good that will do; applying the best of our cooperative economic traditions with creativity; while also having – and being worthy of – faith in ourselves and each other; we would soon solve all our problems to become the best version of ourselves – with the Seven Principles as our guide.
I believe that is the only right way to celebrate or commemorate Juneteenth, and if we do exactly that, I know our ancestors would be proud.
There is a crisis in Black America, emerging at a faster pace since otherwise unreliable politicians made Juneteenth a national holiday. Since then, an increasing number of crisis victims have been revealed, and if we do nothing to stop it, countless others will follow.
The primary symptom of the crisis is when Black people confidently forward American style propaganda as truth. Misinformation flows continuously as official, unwritten policy in this country now as it always has, and none escape the need to evade and periodically purge or cleanse ourselves of the misinformation that builds up within us, otherwise, like forever chemicals.
As annual Juneteenth rituals unfold, with an array of parties, celebrations, and lectures, we will see many of these propaganda addicts – often unknowingly afflicted – as they take the mic at various community, corporate, and government events through June 19th to repeat some of the most diabolical propaganda ever conceived.
In their remarks about Juneteenth as they stand before audiences of Black people and others, these Black propaganda addicts will forward a diabolical myth linked with Juneteenth since its beginning. They will say with a straight face that Black people in Texas remained enslaved for two-and-a-half years beyond the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation because Black people "didn't know" enslavement had ended.
Many of the people who will repeat that flat out lie will do so without knowing they are repeating a lie. Painfully few people have examined this story at its foundation for accuracy.
The myth itself is so absurd that it should be obvious to anyone paying attention that it's a lie. But that myth emerged in a continuing stream of American style propaganda that passes as truth valid enough to be taught in public schools from kindergarten to graduate schools throughout the nation. But as with other false histories, the myth that Black people in Texas "didn't know" enslavement ended for 2-1/2 additional years is a bold faced lie.
That lying myth is damaging enough on its own. But it facilitates other myths, lies, and negative stereotypes, also. Those additional lies include the myth that enslaved Black people could only receive information about emancipation from their enslavers – when Black people had their own means, methods, and networks for communication back then. They were not as efficient at spreading news as modern communication networks can be, but they were still very effective at passing critical information that needed to be shared. Surely, news of emancipation was such an event that needed to be shared.
The truth is Black people knew very well that Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation – declaring all enslaved people were free on January 1, 1863 – two years into the Civil War. The problem with that, and what many people don't understand, is that the Emancipation Proclamation on applied to states that were then "in rebellion against the United States." With that, it comes as no surprise that Confederate states, like Texas, would officially ignore it.
A major problem with Black people being aware of emancipation occurred when they tried to act on it. Many Black people were killed while trying to live in Texas as free human beings. In many cases, the most brutal acts of violence were imposed to serve as a lesson and a warning to other Black people if they would dare try to live free. Besides that, records show that enslavers from states bordering Texas rushed to bring the Black people they were holding captive into Texas to avoid Union soldiers imposing freedom.
So there is no doubt that a significant percent of the 250,000 Black people in Texas knew about emancipation before June 19, 1865. They didn't face continued bondage for an extra 2-1/2 years because "they didn't know" enslavement had ended. They faced continued bondage because Texas was a leading Confederate state that had no regard whatsoever for a declaration from the President of the remaining United States.