One hundred and fifty five years ago today, on June 19, 1865, General Gordon Granger stood on a balcony in Galveston, and proclaimed the slaves in Texas now and forevermore free. Today that day is commemorated as #Juneteenth
While General Order Number 3 freed black slaves in Texas from their physical chains, It did not remove the collective bondage of the black people in this state.
During Reconstruction, blacks by the thousands registered to vote in Texas. They built coalitions with unionist whites—some of whom were even of German stock—and elected their own or those favorable to their cause to state and local office.
It is a dark history my own party was a part of, but we then saw segregation on railroads, the White Primary, convict labor, separate but equal, and more and more the white man put his knee on our neck, until we couldn’t breathe.
We also saw periods of time in Texas where the wealthy—the landed cattle barrons and the Railroad interests—practically owned state government. Later the oil industry. And later the far right.
And they put their foot on the neck of the poor white man and the Tejano man, and the black man time and time again and it reminds us of the situation we find ourselves in today.
As we celebrate the 155th anniversary of the day of Jubilee for African Americans in Texas, we must focus on the ties that bind us today and not the issues that separate us if we are to rise up together and improve our individual and collective conditions.
I once heard an old former legislator say this:
“the cause of the poorest black man in Texas is inexplicably tied to the cause of the white man. And the Hispanic man. And everyone. Because when the poorest, the most marginalized, the forgotten and the neglected, are able to do better and rise up, everyone is doing better.”
I believe that’s true today. Until we realize that we must take specific actions as a government to make amends to those populations we have kept marginalized, we have lynched...
... those people whose land we have taken, and those people who we’ve brutally assaulted on our border, we can’t be whole as a society.
No one of my color was in the room when the founding fathers of our country established and codified the system of descrimination that has perpetuated in this country for 243 years in spite of emancipation, the voting rights act, and @BarackObama.
But people of color are in the room now, and we must have a seat at the table. Policy that is good for people of color in this country is policy that is good for all people because it collectively rises us up—socially and economically.
This is necessary to make our country whole again and live up to the unfulfilled promise of one nation, under God, indivisible,” set forth by the founding fathers.
Call it affirmative action. Call it reparations. Call it whatever you wish, but we must rise up the poorest of the poor, those on the razor’s edge of poverty, the single mother, the foster child...
...the young black man fighting to make ends meet struggling to find a job to make a living—if we all are to rise up.
We must harken back to the legacies of those who came before us who tried to make this world a better place, because to honor the true legacy of Juneteenth means an end to racism in this country. Providing equality of opportunity for all people rises everyone.
In 1961, President Kennedy said, “We must always consider, that we shall be as a city upon a hill—the eyes of all people are upon us Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us—and our governments, in every branch, at every level, national, state and local...
...must be as a city upon a hill—constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities.”
I have said many times we are our brother’s keeper. That is to me the highest calling of government: taking care of our brothers and sisters who cannot take care of themselves.
To honor the legacy of Juneteenth, we must once and for all break the proverbial chains of bondage that hold down ethnic minorities in this country, and rise up, together, as one, to demand change.
Texas will be a better place when we rise together. #WeRiseTogether #Juneteenth
