Welcome back to #Fuck12Friday!! Today is so so special because it's also Juneteenth!
As Black people continue to fight for liberation in the streets, we want to take a look at the history of the oppression and liberation of Black people on this historic day. #Fuck12Friday
It was on June 19, 1865 that folks still enslaved in Texas first learned they were free, 2.5 years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. People have been celebrating Juneteenth since that day in 1865. #Fuck12Friday
In 1980 it became an official state holiday in Texas, and there is growing pressure this year to make it a national holiday. #Fuck12Friday
But back to 1865. Although the 13th Amendment wouldn't constitutionally abolish slavery until December of that year, it had technically been outlawed 2.5 years prior to Juneteenth when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. #Fuck12Friday
So why were folks still enslaved in Texas when the Union soldiers showed up in 1865? #Fuck12Friday
Historians differ on that one. One theory is that slaveowners deliberately ignored the order and Lincoln just didn't have enough muscle to enforce it sooner, or even that the North wanted to give one last cotton harvest to the South before dismantling slavery. #Fuck12Friday
It took over two years, and military intervention, for Black people to get the freedom that was rightfully theirs. #Fuck12Friday
"When the army arrived in Galveston, they declared the end of slavery ""involves an absolute equality of rights...between former masters and slaves."" 150 years later, and Black people are still struggling to break the chains of their oppressors. #Fuck12Friday
Today, more Black men are in prison or on probation than were enslaved in 1850. #Fuck12Friday
"The 13th Amendment outlawed slavery “except as a punishment for crime whereof te party shall have been duly convicted.”
Today, folks in prison work for little to no money manufacturing goods like textiles, furniture, and recently even hand santizer. #Fuck12Friday"
Today, folks in prison work for little to no money manufacturing goods like textiles, furniture, and recently even hand santizer. #Fuck12Friday"
In Illinois, prison labor is paid $0.71 to $2.15 a DAY. In Texas and Georgia, incarcerated people earn $0 a day. #Fuck12Friday
Since the killing of George Floyd last month, police have already murdered 123 more people (that we know of). Victims of police murder are disproportionately Black. #Fuck12Friday
On June 19th, 1865 it took an army showing up in person to force Texans to give up slavery long after it was already supposed to be illegal. Equality being codified into law is not enough to make us free. #Fuck12Friday
This week, during one of the biggest Black liberation movements of the 21st century, Lori Lightfoot rejected the proposal to make Juneteenth a city holiday #Fuck12Friday
Meanwhile, we spend 40% of our city's budget on police, and CPD spent their time and money arresting thousands of protestors advocating for Black liberation in the last few weeks. #Fuck12Friday
And we know that even when history is recognized, it needs to be coupled with real change. In Philly, Mayor Kenney approved Juneteenth as a holiday, but also approved the tear gassing of Black protestors. #Fuck12Friday
In New York, Governer Cuomo signed an executive order to make Juneteenth a holiday for state employees, while state prisoners are manufacturing hand sanitizer without compensation. #Fuck12Friday
Corporations like Amazon have paid lip service to Juneteenth by allowing their employees to take the day off, but we know Amazon sells surveillance tech to police departments to terrorize Black people. #Fuck12Friday
Banks like Bank of America are allowing their employees to take Juneteenth off, but we know Bank of America sells police brutality bonds to cities to pay off police settlements. #Fuck12Friday
Oppressors will try to use their solidarity statements about Juneteenth to signal that they are on the right side of the struggle. But we know that there is no real liberation without pressure. #Fuck12Friday
We deserve that Juneteenth be recognized as a day of rest and celebration. But we wont claim liberation until we've achieved freedom from police terror, economic subjugation, and ALL of the material conditions of our oppression. #Fuck12Friday
It will take our collective action and continued resolve to fight for the freedom that we were promised. #Fuck12Friday
Across the nation, we "embrace the holiday, and its shadows as a means of celebrating the wholeness and perseverance in Black life in so-called America" @BLRRBuffalo #Fuck12Friday
Today, workers are shutting down the West Coast in defense of Black lives with a West Coast Port Shutdown, demanding an end to police terror, an end to systemic racism, and a halt the privatization of the port of Oakland and other public services. @JuneteenthSPT #Fuck12Friday
This Juneteenth, folks in Buffalo are gathering for a jubilee at #LiberationSquare. Members of the movement are occupying this public space to demand freedom - one that is intersectional, expansive and cop-free. @BLRRBuffalo #Fuck12Friday
In Chicago, you'll find us calling on our city to #defundthepolice, #freealltorturesurvivors and create an equitable city, where Black communities and people can thrive.
