June 13, 2024 • 29 mins
Learn the complicated origin of Juneteenth, get informed about the best terms to use, and gain clarity on what Juneteenth means for us today.
This episode is a new, update version of previous releases related to Juneteenth.
Related episodes:
Slavery— All the Stuff No One Ever Taught on Apple and Spotify
The Forgotten Period of Unbelievable Racial Progress: Reconstruction on Apple and Spotify
A Deep Dive on Frederick Douglass on Apple and Spotify
Unpacking Robin DiAngelo's Most Problematic Teaching on Apple or Spotify
Mentioned:
We Need to Talk About Racism in the Criminal Justice System on Apple & Spotify
What does Juneteenth Really Mean? by Sean Collins
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
The documentary '13th'
To support Marie and get exclusive resources, head to patreon.com/mariebeech. To learn more about Marie's DEI services, head to mariebeecham.com. Leave a new rating or review this month, and I'll donate $1 to EJI.org on your behalf.
This episode is a new, update version of previous releases related to Juneteenth.
Related episodes:
Slavery— All the Stuff No One Ever Taught on Apple and Spotify
The Forgotten Period of Unbelievable Racial Progress: Reconstruction on Apple and Spotify
A Deep Dive on Frederick Douglass on Apple and Spotify
Unpacking Robin DiAngelo's Most Problematic Teaching on Apple or Spotify
Mentioned:
We Need to Talk About Racism in the Criminal Justice System on Apple & Spotify
What does Juneteenth Really Mean? by Sean Collins
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
The documentary '13th'
To support Marie and get exclusive resources, head to patreon.com/mariebeech. To learn more about Marie's DEI services, head to mariebeecham.com. Leave a new rating or review this month, and I'll donate $1 to EJI.org on your behalf.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
Hello, and welcome back to KnowBetter, Do Better. I'm your host,
Marie Beacham, and on today's episode, you'll get a flyover of everything
you need to know about Juneteenth.For the whole month of June, I've
been bringing back the most listened toepisodes on the podcast and interjecting new and
different information throughout them, so it'sall your favorite stuff, updated with a
(00:34):
fresh spin. And that's what today'sepisode is. In the front half,
we'll be talking about vocabulary related toJuneteenth, what are the actual words you
should probably use and maybe not use. Then we'll move on to some of
the important historic facts of Juneteenth andend with a few reflections on what Juneteenth
should or could mean to us today. So let's get right into it.
(00:57):
I think a lot of people knowthe base sick facts of June teenth,
but there's still a foggy haze overwhat we should think of it. Is
it a good thing? Are wecelebrating but it's kind of sad because freedom
was delayed. It's like the fourthof July but not but better? Is
it better? Is it good news? It's obviously good news, but it's
(01:19):
also unfortunate. Like that's the webthat we're gonna untangle together. I'll be
teaching you important terms that you shouldknow that are often misused or confused,
terms, specifically when we're talking aboutthe past, because I want to help
you out before you're stumbling over allof your words. With Juneteenth and the
fourth of July right around the corner, when I walk you through the dos
(01:42):
and don'ts of what to say,what not to say, I don't want
you to be overwhelmed or in yourhead about picking the perfect words. My
goal here is to get to theunderlying thing. I want to help you
examine the hidden meaning in a lotof the language that we often use.
And when you take a gander atthe meaning that's beneath the surface of the
words we're choosing, then you evaluate, oh, is that the meaning I'm
(02:06):
trying to get across or are thereother terms I could be using that get
my intended message across better. That'sthe goal self reflection and aligning your priorities
and your values with the words thatcome out of your mouth. So I
am not inviting you to be hypercriticalof other people's word choice and hypercritical of
yourself. I'm inviting you to bereflective, be curious about your vocab choices.
(02:31):
Oh why do I say that?Where did I pick that up?
How Come I haven't thought through thisbefore? Okay, okay, let's get
into it. So there are someways that you can be mindful of your
language choices when it comes to Juneteenthand emancipation and the fourth of July and
all that stuff. That's a lotof the zone will be in. First
(02:52):
things. First, we're talking abouthistory, Let's start with the word slaves.
We say this a lot for Juneteenth. Will say the slaves were free.
When we're talking about historical figures,will say that they were a former
slave. Okay, I'm not banningthe word slaves. I am not,
but I do think it's helpful toremember and to realize that slave is an
(03:15):
identity. When we refer to peopleas slaves, we essentially mean that is
who they are. But what Iprefer, and what I think is more
fitting and accurate, is when Irefer to those people as enslaved people or
enslaved black people, or enslaved fillin the blank, whatever group was enslaved,
because I think that reflects that it'snot who they were, it was
(03:38):
their status and it was something thatwas done to them. It might sound
nitpicky, but to me, itmakes a big difference. There's a difference
between signing on to something and sayingthat this is who these people were,
they were slaves, and saying thisis what was done to these people,
who are fully human, who hadcapable minds, who had ambitions, hopes,
(04:00):
dreams, fears, families, allof it, those people they were
enslaved. To me, that communicatesthe tragedy of it, and it holds
in contrast their humanity and also theinjustice that they were subjected to. Now
in the same vein there's another word, slave master or slave owner. Again,
(04:21):
to call a person a slave owner, I just feel in my gut,
in my soul, it feels likeI'm signing off on that when I
say that, oh, the slaveowner of hundreds of slaves, by saying
that they owned them, they didown them. And I'm not trying to
deny the legitimate reality that that's howit worked. I get it. The
(04:41):
people were treated as property. Idon't want to sugarcoat that. I don't
want to make it more palatable,But to refer to a person in history
as a slave owner doesn't feel asaccurate to me as to call them an
enslaver, because when I think ofthe word owner, I mean today you
can own your home, you canown a car, and it's just a
statement of fact. Yeah, thatthing belongs to you. And when you
(05:03):
own something, it's rightfully yours.And so I think that's what I take
issue with with the term slave owner. It suggests that they own this property
which happens to be people, andthose people rightfully belong to them. But
I don't agree with that. Idon't agree, and so when I'm talking
about history, I opt out ofsaying they had slaves or they owned slaves,
(05:28):
and instead they enslaved people. I'mnot telling you you need to today
swap out this language. You can'tsay slave owner anymore, you have to
say in slaver. That's not mygoal, but I am inviting you to
think through what is the meaning tome to say that they enslaved a person.
It acknowledges the awful thing that happenedin history without signing off on it
(05:51):
as Okay, it might seem likesmall potatoes to you, but I think
that the words we use to identifypeople really affects how we make sense of
the story that is history. That'swhy I care. Now there's a counter
argument here, and I think it'svaluable. I hear it. I can
appreciate the points that are made.Here's how it goes. Some people think
(06:12):
that we should use the term slave, and we should use the term slave
owner, and I say, let'sopt out of that. But for people
who argue in favor of saying slaves, for example, they think that to
say enslaved people rather than slaves isbeing too gentle with history. They're like,
sure, I get that you're tryingto humanize them, but that's just
the thing. For their entire lifetimes, for that entire period of history,
(06:35):
they weren't being humanized. You don'twant to make slave their identity, Well,
that's how they lived. Slave wasmade to be their identity. They
weren't treated as people who were enslaved. They were treated as property, chattel,
slavery. Their lives were in bondage. So you trying to humanize them.
Now, that's a nice thing totry and do, but it seems
(06:59):
optimistic, it seems pie in thesky, because that wasn't their reality.
Slave was their identity, that wasall that they were allowed to be.
I hear that perspective, and whatI appreciate is that the person doesn't want
the injustice to be washed over.I really get the perspective. That's again
why I'm not saying you have tosay this. You can't say that there's
(07:19):
really a valid case to be madeeither way. But in my case,
the narrative of history makes the mostsense in my brain and in my heart.
When I humanize the people who wereenslaved, that's how I recognize the
evil of slavery for all that itis. Let's move on to the next
one, which is especially relevant aroundJuneteenth. It's when we talk about when
(07:43):
slavery ended. Those two words,slavery ended. There's a lot to unpack.
But if you know the story ofJuneteenth that all, which I'll be
covering next, then you know thatwhen slavery ended, slavery didn't end.
Okay, you follow good? Yeah, you remember the whole story story of
junenteenth is that even though the EmancipationProclamation was signed by President Lincoln, people
(08:05):
remained enslaved for years after that,over two years. So what people really
mean when they say slavery ended isthat slavery was abolished or slavery was deemed
unconstitutional. And you hear this whenpeople talk about junenteenth, because they'll say
slavery ended in eighteen sixty three,but people weren't free until eighteen sixty five.
(08:28):
And I'm like, okay, sowhat I'm hearing is it didn't actually
end. Like the words you're reachingfor is that slavery was abolished. Slavery
was no longer legal even though itcontinued. That's little SWAPPERUNI you can make.
The Emancipation Proclamation is not when slaveryended, it's when slavery was abolished.
It might seem like a small difference. And if it does seem like
(08:50):
a small difference, great, thatshould mean it's very easy to adopt that
small little change. Hello, itis Marie from the Future poppin' it.
We're about to move on to thehistory, but really quick, I'll reiterate
those three vocab swaps that I make. Rather than saying slaves, I typically
say enslaved people. Rather than sayingslave owners or slave masters, I typically
(09:13):
say enslavers. And rather than referringto when slavery ended, I think the
more accurate language is to refer towhen slavery was abolished, because slavery was
abolished at a certain point, andthat's usually the point we're talking about,
but it took years for slavery toactually come to an end. Capeese Cabosh.
Now we'll flesh out the facts ofwhat went down on June nineteenth,
(09:37):
eighteen sixty five. Let's start withwhat you need to know about June teenth.
People smashed together the words June andnineteenth. It is June nineteenth of
every year, and it represents aday of liberation because it refers to June
nineteenth, eighteen sixty five, inGalveston, Texas, when finally the Emancipation
(09:58):
Proclamation was enforced in Galveston, meaningthat even though President Lincoln had signed the
Emancipation Proclamation over two years prior,there were many people all throughout the Southern
States and even the border states whoremained enslaved for a long while after that.
What went down on June nineteenth,Shawn Collins of Ox writes on that
(10:20):
day, Major General Gordon Granger,a storied Union Army officer, read General
Order Number three Allowed, with twothousand federal troops at his back, forcing
Texas and slavers who had refused tofree their slaves as required by law to
finally do so more than two yearslate. So Juneteenth represents freedom liberation.
(10:43):
Deliverance, however, delayed freedom inthe sense that these people shouldn't have been
born into slavery, that these peopleshouldn't have been kept in slavery, and
that once it was signed into lawthat slavery was no longer legal, they
should have been immediately freed. Andstill it was over two more years before
that was a reality. While thatwas good news that freedom was being granted,
(11:05):
it was only partial and it wasnot the fullest iteration of freedom.
The United States wasn't fully owning up. I'm not just talking about the South,
but everybody. The attitude of thegovernment and the Union troops and the
enslavers and all of the white peoplein the United States. It was not
we are deeply regretful and we willdo anything we can to make it right
(11:28):
to black American we are guilty foryour suffering, we are guilty for your
bondage, and we are here togive you freedom and support to the fullest
extent. It was not that therewere still drawbacks, and that's putting it
lightly. Let's read on. SoGranger who brought this announcement of freedom.
It started better than an ended.While the text began with promising black people
(11:50):
with quote an absolute equality of personalrights and rights of property, that same
announcement concluded with this quote, thefreedmen are advised to remain quietly at their
present homes and work for wages.By their present homes, it means the
(12:11):
plantations where they have been enslaved fortheir entire lives. It goes on to
say this, they are informed thatthey will not be allowed to collect at
military posts and that they will notbe supported in idleness, either there or
elsewhere. So yeah, it opensup with freedom, but those freedoms are
swiftly restricted to no longer be consideredproperty in a legal sense. That is
(12:35):
no small thing. There's a hugedifference between being enslaved and working for wages.
That is progress, though it's hardto express how this transition wasn't as
significant as you would hope. Youwould hope that black people's rights were recognized,
the fullness of their humanity was recognized, and they were given that complete
(12:56):
equality that was promised. Instead,they're barred from certain jobs, they're told
to remain in their same position andthat there's a zero tolerance policy for people
who don't find good work. Youknow, the freedmen's lives were not a
k qualk. After that, thearticle goes on to say, quote General
Order number three was a refusal togrant black Americans the full freedom they should
(13:22):
have enjoyed. It informed the formerenslaved that they ought to stay where they
were, that they were expected totoil still for their formeran slabors, that
they ought to not bother the federalgovernment, and that they were to continue
being drivers of economic prosperity for Yeah, you guessed at white Americans. So
I hate to be the bearer ofbad news. And it's not all bad
(13:45):
news. It's a mixed bag.That's what we find with a lot of
history, and you just have tosit with that. I think it would
be wrong to say that Juneteenth meansnothing at all. There's nothing to celebrate,
Like, no, the news ofthe Emancipation Proclamation find being enforced.
That is important for history. Thatis important for those Black Americans, that
is important for their descendants today.That is important, and it's good and
(14:09):
it's worth celebrating and its progress.But also it's hard to like purely focus
on the upspin and really fully celebratewhen they went from being enslaved to something
just slightly better. Slightly better isbetter. But yeah, I'm trying to
convey that Juneteenth represents something that wasgood and not good enough and good at
(14:33):
the same time, which leads usinto the turmoil about the holiday today.
There's this juxtaposition of sad remembrance ofthe worst parts of our nation's history and
also celebration, celebration of the progresspoints. And even June teenth was made
into a federal holiday recently twenty twentyone, signed into law. Even that
(14:54):
got a mixed response from the blackcommunity because some people felt like it was
a strategic move for the government,a marker where people are like, hey
see black people, we're acknowledging itthis big, flashy thing that actually might
not yield much benefit. It couldjust be something to point to as progress.
Look, we made it a holidaywe remember, but kind of a
(15:16):
false progress. That's how a lotof people felt. That's not the boat
that I fall into. I amglad that Juneteenth was made into a federal
holiday. I consider it progress.I think that Juneteenth invites a conversation about
how history is not just these instantaneousmoments of change, but it's often,
unfortunately more gradual, delayed liberation,delayed freedom. The tension there, I
(15:41):
think, is a really good conversationfor us to be having. So I'm
glad that federal holiday status is bringingthis history to a place of common knowledge.
And as I was preparing for thisepisode, I could not help but
see some kind of beautiful, ooignantanalogy connections to the history that's being made
to day. Stay with me here, Okay, this makes me think of
(16:03):
two things. The first is anaside, the second is my point.
First things first, there is acompelling case for how racism is maintained through
not explicitly racist laws, but actuallyrace neutral laws or race blind laws.
And there's even an argument to bemade that chattel slavery didn't altogether end.
This argument was made very popular throughMichelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow, very
(16:26):
well written book, and also throughthe documentary Thirteenth, which is available to
watch for free on YouTube. Andthe basic argument being made here is that
the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution saysthat neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist
within the United States or any placesubject to their jurisdiction. But there was
(16:47):
an exception from day one, neitherslavery nor involuntary servitude except as a punishment
for a crime that accept has beenabused and taken advantage of. And it
took no time at all for thesystem of slavery to turn into the system
of mass incarceration. And the UnitedStates was benefiting from that except that loophole.
(17:10):
So many people, many black people, were still being enslaved, were
still doing forced free labor. Itwas privatized, there's a lot of profit,
and it made a way for enslavementto essentially be continued legally. If
you already know about that, I'llbet you have seen the documentary Thirteenth And
if you want to learn more aboutthat, you should see the documentary Thirteenth.
(17:32):
A powerhouse of experts, lawyers,activists, academics were all brought together
and it's incredibly impactful. My pointhere is that when we reflect on what
Juneteenth represents, it represents a changein the law that was meant to lead
to freedom, but the full effectof freedom was delayed for a long time.
And that leads us to the secondthing I think Juneteenth is really fitting
(17:57):
even today because because there are waysthat better legislation is introduced and flawed ways
of thinking are retired, and racismis rightly done away with, and we're
ready to move forward. And onpaper, we have already moved forward.
We're primed for progress, and that'sgreat, but the ripple effect of that
(18:19):
hasn't been fully felt yet. Thepromises of equity and liberation haven't been fully
realized. Racist attitudes and prejudice beliefshaven't fully changed. Hopping in again to
say, I'm about to start sayingit's twenty twenty three, but just just
humor me and overlook that. Nowit's twenty twenty four, but the point
(18:41):
still stands. Okay, back intoit. I think that's kind of where
we're at, and I think that'sthe origin story of Juneteenth. The origin
of Juneteenth was that though slavery wasabolished, word didn't spread, and when
it did, change didn't take effect. Two whole years went by scratching our
heads. That's shocking, that's unfortunate, that's unbelievable. But think of today,
(19:04):
it's twenty twenty three, the largestjustice movement of my lifetime. Just
happened a few years ago. Wewere all there. Twenty twenty wild Ride
twenty twenty one was when Juneteenth wasmade a federal holiday. It was about
two years ago that there was thisreckoning in our country again. That was
(19:25):
when many people started to catch wordthat inequality did not end with doctor King,
that the civil rights movement of thesixties did not fix injustice altogether.
In the past few years, thenews of that has spread. People are
trying to make sense of prejudice,They're trying to understand privilege. All of
this is very new to people whohave had the privilege of not needing to
(19:45):
think about it until recent years.A few years down the road and we're
still all waiting to see how changewill take effect. We're waiting to see
what this justice movement meant and whatit was will mean. We kind of
don't know. Was it a passingfad or did it change people forever?
(20:07):
Will there be no difference between pretwenty twenty in post or will future generations
look back and see how these yearscatalyzed change. Will they see how an
entire culture was transformed. I don'tthink that's fully been decided. I think
we're the deciders. I think we'redeciding that right now. Are you seeing
the similarities between that moment in eighteensixty five and the cultural moment that we're
(20:32):
in right now today. This isnot a fear mongering thing. I am
not saying that we're in the exactsame place today as we were then.
No, not at all. Ithink it's a real error to equate the
atrocities of the past to the injusticestoday because they are not on the same
scale. That is good news.Slavery is a thing of the past.
(20:56):
The scope and severity of racial discriminationtwo centuries ago, it was drastically worse
than what we are facing today.I will say that, and I'll say
it gladly that we have made somuch progress. I'm not equating the past
and the present. But that said, it is helpful to see how injustice
and progress and delays and hope thesethings are related. In a recent episode,
(21:21):
I'm talking about Robin DiAngelo, andI'm making this point emphatically that it's
good to relate different things related toracism and racial progress and anti racism and
all that. It's not good toequate them. It's not good to hop
and skip over centuries and say thesetwo things are one and the same,
these two things are completely totally equal, because I think that leads us to
catastrophize. So let's not do that. Let's not say that we're no better
(21:45):
off now than we were then,because we are better off now, whoop
deed do? And yet and stillwe have a ways to go now.
When I initially recorded the bits andbobs that are part of this episode,
I hadn't done a deep dive intohistory yet on the podcast. But since
then I've done really lengthy episodes onslavery and on the period immediately following slavery
(22:08):
known as reconstruction. So let megive you the Sparknes version things that could
be covered in greater depth. Thebig thing from the episode on slavery is
that when we're talking about slavery inthe US, we tend to reduce slavery
down to just one of its iterations, one of its later iterations. We
think of cotton and the cotton ginand Eli Whitney, who invented it.
(22:32):
But the big thing I hit homein that episode on slavery is that it
wasn't one uniform period of time slaverylooked very different over the course of the
two centuries, it was in placeand it was progressing. So when we
boil it down to just cotton picking, we're actually talking about a relatively short
iteration of slavery, and we're overlookingthe other many years of slavery. We're
(22:55):
failing to realize that it was acomplex and constantly changing stratiga industry of the
exploitation. That's unpacked more fully inthe episode on slavery specifically, if you
want the deep dive. Now inthe other history deep dive, the one
on the period known as reconstruction,the period right after slavery, I talk
more about the emancipation Proclamation, theCivil War, Lincoln's own shifting views.
(23:21):
But a tidbit that's especially relevant whenwe're talking about juneteenth. We say Lincoln
ordered for the emancipation Proclamation, butfor some reason, the Southern states didn't
carry it out. For some reason, there was this two year delay,
and that reason is that there wasa civil war going on over this very
issue. For Lincoln to even penthe emancipation Proclamation was a very strange gesture
(23:45):
because the whole war that was beingfought throughout the nation, and it was
actively underway was about those Southern statestrying to secede from the Union so that
the federal government couldn't impede upon theirrights to continue with slavery. The Southern
states were trying to withdraw, tryingto peace out because they didn't want him,
(24:06):
in his authority, to say thatslavery must end. So in the
midst of that war, for himto send out the Emancipation Proclamation with this
bold statement, Hey, just soyou know, slavery must end, Yes,
even in your states, it wasa really strange thing. He knew
those states wouldn't comply. That's whythey were fighting this war. So why
(24:26):
would he have done that? Whatwas the purpose of the Emancipation Proclamation in
sending out this message to states whowere actively opposed to the authority of the
president and the federal government. Heknew that the Southern states would not receive
that and go, oh, guesswe'll have to put down the weapons,
free all the enslaved people, andlisten to our president. No, that
(24:48):
was never going to happen. Themessage sent to them was, oh,
I guess Lincoln is making it abundantlyclear now, because it wasn't as clear
before that a Union victory will meanno more slavery whatsoever. The Emancipation Proclamation
was his line in the sand,and he came to drawing that line in
(25:08):
the sand at the urging of FrederickDouglas, who was himself a formerly enslaved
man. I've got a whole episodeon him and his impact of bringing about
the end of slavery. His lifeis crazy, truly unbelievable story. Douglas
a man born into slavery and thenprobably the single most influential person, maybe
(25:30):
second to Lincoln in bringing about theend of slavery and even the Union victory,
because he did so much to recruitAfrican American soldiers to the Union's cause.
That dude is just unreal. SoI'll have his episode in the show
notes too. But my point hereis that when we're talking about Juneteenth and
how the Emancipation Proclamation was signed intolaw, but there was this two year
(25:51):
delay, and finally in Galveston,Texas, they caught the news. Not
like news hadn't spread to Galveston,it had spread to all of the enslavers,
and that's why they had such avested interest in the Confederacy winning the
war. That's why they fought tosecede from the Union. Maybe you're hearing
this and you're like, duh,who doesn't know this? Or maybe you're
(26:12):
hearing this and you're like, oh, I think I'm getting it. The
Emancipation Proclamation not being carried out,that wasn't a surprise to anybody. That
wasn't a surprise to Lincoln. WhenLincoln was sending out that message, he
knew he didn't have real authority overthe Southern States, or rather, he
knew that the Southern States were activelyengaging in war because of their desire to
(26:34):
oppose his authority. The Emancipation Proclamationit wasn't the thing that was going to
immediately end slavery. It was nevergoing to be that it was penned while
the Civil War was still well underway. But what made it such a monumental
historical development was that it finally becamesuper clear. We're is still clear that
(26:56):
if the Union win's the war,slavery is no more, and praise the
Lord. That is what happened.I thought i'd add that info into this
episode. Those other historical deep divesare linked in the show notes. If
you want to go further your learningI should also mention that for the whole
month of June on the podcast,we're doing two fun things. One is
(27:18):
that all of the most listened toepisodes are being re released in the same
way that this one was, withnew interjections, more information, fresh takes.
So basically, it's all of yourfavorite topics with a fresh spin.
And for the entire month of June, for every new rating or review,
I will be donating one dollar toEqual Justice Initiative, an organization that is
(27:42):
on a mission to defend the mostvulnerable, the wrongly accused, victims of
racism, people with disabilities, peoplewith mental health issues, everyone caught up
in our nation's criminal justice system withouta fair defense or fair sentencing. They
take on the work that no oneelse will, and they take on work
(28:03):
for people who can't afford it themselves. So one new rating or new review
is one dollar toward Equal Justice Initiativefor the whole month of June. So
hurry and do not delay, andI'll drop the donation link in the show
notes if you yourself want to donate. I'm sure that many of you.
When juneteen throws around, it's anespecially important time to reflect, to consider
(28:25):
what's happened in history and to reallyengage in the history being made today.
So thank you for taking the timeto get informed and listen to the podcast.
I encourage you. Don't let itend here. There are a whole
lot more episodes that will teach youabout race and anti racism. The whole
mission of this podcast is to makeit easy for you to get informed about
(28:48):
race. Every episode tackles topics thatare culturally relevant and applicable and important.
And you'll notice I come out thesetopics in a way that transcends the cultural
divides. I'm not appealing to groupsthink for us and them. Instead,
I'm offering you a really nuanced,charitable take on these events. Go check
out the other episodes, Share theseepisodes online on social media, send them
(29:11):
to your group chats so that morepeople get informed about Juneteenth and race and
anti racism. That's a great wayto further the impact. Thank you so
much for your support. Hosting thispodcast is truly an honor and a privilege
and a joy, and I amso grateful for every single one of you.
And if you only take away onething from this episode, I hope
(29:33):
it's that change starts with you
Hello, and welcome back to KnowBetter, Do Better. I'm your host,
Marie Beacham, and on today's episode, you'll get a flyover of everything
you need to know about Juneteenth.For the whole month of June, I've
been bringing back the most listened toepisodes on the podcast and interjecting new and
different information throughout them, so it'sall your favorite stuff, updated with a
(00:34):
fresh spin. And that's what today'sepisode is. In the front half,
we'll be talking about vocabulary related toJuneteenth, what are the actual words you
should probably use and maybe not use. Then we'll move on to some of
the important historic facts of Juneteenth andend with a few reflections on what Juneteenth
should or could mean to us today. So let's get right into it.
(00:57):
I think a lot of people knowthe base sick facts of June teenth,
but there's still a foggy haze overwhat we should think of it. Is
it a good thing? Are wecelebrating but it's kind of sad because freedom
was delayed. It's like the fourthof July but not but better? Is
it better? Is it good news? It's obviously good news, but it's
(01:19):
also unfortunate. Like that's the webthat we're gonna untangle together. I'll be
teaching you important terms that you shouldknow that are often misused or confused,
terms, specifically when we're talking aboutthe past, because I want to help
you out before you're stumbling over allof your words. With Juneteenth and the
fourth of July right around the corner, when I walk you through the dos
(01:42):
and don'ts of what to say,what not to say, I don't want
you to be overwhelmed or in yourhead about picking the perfect words. My
goal here is to get to theunderlying thing. I want to help you
examine the hidden meaning in a lotof the language that we often use.
And when you take a gander atthe meaning that's beneath the surface of the
words we're choosing, then you evaluate, oh, is that the meaning I'm
(02:06):
trying to get across or are thereother terms I could be using that get
my intended message across better. That'sthe goal self reflection and aligning your priorities
and your values with the words thatcome out of your mouth. So I
am not inviting you to be hypercriticalof other people's word choice and hypercritical of
yourself. I'm inviting you to bereflective, be curious about your vocab choices.
(02:31):
Oh why do I say that?Where did I pick that up?
How Come I haven't thought through thisbefore? Okay, okay, let's get
into it. So there are someways that you can be mindful of your
language choices when it comes to Juneteenthand emancipation and the fourth of July and
all that stuff. That's a lotof the zone will be in. First
(02:52):
things. First, we're talking abouthistory, Let's start with the word slaves.
We say this a lot for Juneteenth. Will say the slaves were free.
When we're talking about historical figures,will say that they were a former
slave. Okay, I'm not banningthe word slaves. I am not,
but I do think it's helpful toremember and to realize that slave is an
(03:15):
identity. When we refer to peopleas slaves, we essentially mean that is
who they are. But what Iprefer, and what I think is more
fitting and accurate, is when Irefer to those people as enslaved people or
enslaved black people, or enslaved fillin the blank, whatever group was enslaved,
because I think that reflects that it'snot who they were, it was
(03:38):
their status and it was something thatwas done to them. It might sound
nitpicky, but to me, itmakes a big difference. There's a difference
between signing on to something and sayingthat this is who these people were,
they were slaves, and saying thisis what was done to these people,
who are fully human, who hadcapable minds, who had ambitions, hopes,
(04:00):
dreams, fears, families, allof it, those people they were
enslaved. To me, that communicatesthe tragedy of it, and it holds
in contrast their humanity and also theinjustice that they were subjected to. Now
in the same vein there's another word, slave master or slave owner. Again,
(04:21):
to call a person a slave owner, I just feel in my gut,
in my soul, it feels likeI'm signing off on that when I
say that, oh, the slaveowner of hundreds of slaves, by saying
that they owned them, they didown them. And I'm not trying to
deny the legitimate reality that that's howit worked. I get it. The
(04:41):
people were treated as property. Idon't want to sugarcoat that. I don't
want to make it more palatable,But to refer to a person in history
as a slave owner doesn't feel asaccurate to me as to call them an
enslaver, because when I think ofthe word owner, I mean today you
can own your home, you canown a car, and it's just a
statement of fact. Yeah, thatthing belongs to you. And when you
(05:03):
own something, it's rightfully yours.And so I think that's what I take
issue with with the term slave owner. It suggests that they own this property
which happens to be people, andthose people rightfully belong to them. But
I don't agree with that. Idon't agree, and so when I'm talking
about history, I opt out ofsaying they had slaves or they owned slaves,
(05:28):
and instead they enslaved people. I'mnot telling you you need to today
swap out this language. You can'tsay slave owner anymore, you have to
say in slaver. That's not mygoal, but I am inviting you to
think through what is the meaning tome to say that they enslaved a person.
It acknowledges the awful thing that happenedin history without signing off on it
(05:51):
as Okay, it might seem likesmall potatoes to you, but I think
that the words we use to identifypeople really affects how we make sense of
the story that is history. That'swhy I care. Now there's a counter
argument here, and I think it'svaluable. I hear it. I can
appreciate the points that are made.Here's how it goes. Some people think
(06:12):
that we should use the term slave, and we should use the term slave
owner, and I say, let'sopt out of that. But for people
who argue in favor of saying slaves, for example, they think that to
say enslaved people rather than slaves isbeing too gentle with history. They're like,
sure, I get that you're tryingto humanize them, but that's just
the thing. For their entire lifetimes, for that entire period of history,
(06:35):
they weren't being humanized. You don'twant to make slave their identity, Well,
that's how they lived. Slave wasmade to be their identity. They
weren't treated as people who were enslaved. They were treated as property, chattel,
slavery. Their lives were in bondage. So you trying to humanize them.
Now, that's a nice thing totry and do, but it seems
(06:59):
optimistic, it seems pie in thesky, because that wasn't their reality.
Slave was their identity, that wasall that they were allowed to be.
I hear that perspective, and whatI appreciate is that the person doesn't want
the injustice to be washed over.I really get the perspective. That's again
why I'm not saying you have tosay this. You can't say that there's
(07:19):
really a valid case to be madeeither way. But in my case,
the narrative of history makes the mostsense in my brain and in my heart.
When I humanize the people who wereenslaved, that's how I recognize the
evil of slavery for all that itis. Let's move on to the next
one, which is especially relevant aroundJuneteenth. It's when we talk about when
(07:43):
slavery ended. Those two words,slavery ended. There's a lot to unpack.
But if you know the story ofJuneteenth that all, which I'll be
covering next, then you know thatwhen slavery ended, slavery didn't end.
Okay, you follow good? Yeah, you remember the whole story story of
junenteenth is that even though the EmancipationProclamation was signed by President Lincoln, people
(08:05):
remained enslaved for years after that,over two years. So what people really
mean when they say slavery ended isthat slavery was abolished or slavery was deemed
unconstitutional. And you hear this whenpeople talk about junenteenth, because they'll say
slavery ended in eighteen sixty three,but people weren't free until eighteen sixty five.
(08:28):
And I'm like, okay, sowhat I'm hearing is it didn't actually
end. Like the words you're reachingfor is that slavery was abolished. Slavery
was no longer legal even though itcontinued. That's little SWAPPERUNI you can make.
The Emancipation Proclamation is not when slaveryended, it's when slavery was abolished.
It might seem like a small difference. And if it does seem like
(08:50):
a small difference, great, thatshould mean it's very easy to adopt that
small little change. Hello, itis Marie from the Future poppin' it.
We're about to move on to thehistory, but really quick, I'll reiterate
those three vocab swaps that I make. Rather than saying slaves, I typically
say enslaved people. Rather than sayingslave owners or slave masters, I typically
(09:13):
say enslavers. And rather than referringto when slavery ended, I think the
more accurate language is to refer towhen slavery was abolished, because slavery was
abolished at a certain point, andthat's usually the point we're talking about,
but it took years for slavery toactually come to an end. Capeese Cabosh.
Now we'll flesh out the facts ofwhat went down on June nineteenth,
(09:37):
eighteen sixty five. Let's start withwhat you need to know about June teenth.
People smashed together the words June andnineteenth. It is June nineteenth of
every year, and it represents aday of liberation because it refers to June
nineteenth, eighteen sixty five, inGalveston, Texas, when finally the Emancipation
(09:58):
Proclamation was enforced in Galveston, meaningthat even though President Lincoln had signed the
Emancipation Proclamation over two years prior,there were many people all throughout the Southern
States and even the border states whoremained enslaved for a long while after that.
What went down on June nineteenth,Shawn Collins of Ox writes on that
(10:20):
day, Major General Gordon Granger,a storied Union Army officer, read General
Order Number three Allowed, with twothousand federal troops at his back, forcing
Texas and slavers who had refused tofree their slaves as required by law to
finally do so more than two yearslate. So Juneteenth represents freedom liberation.
(10:43):
Deliverance, however, delayed freedom inthe sense that these people shouldn't have been
born into slavery, that these peopleshouldn't have been kept in slavery, and
that once it was signed into lawthat slavery was no longer legal, they
should have been immediately freed. Andstill it was over two more years before
that was a reality. While thatwas good news that freedom was being granted,
(11:05):
it was only partial and it wasnot the fullest iteration of freedom.
The United States wasn't fully owning up. I'm not just talking about the South,
but everybody. The attitude of thegovernment and the Union troops and the
enslavers and all of the white peoplein the United States. It was not
we are deeply regretful and we willdo anything we can to make it right
(11:28):
to black American we are guilty foryour suffering, we are guilty for your
bondage, and we are here togive you freedom and support to the fullest
extent. It was not that therewere still drawbacks, and that's putting it
lightly. Let's read on. SoGranger who brought this announcement of freedom.
It started better than an ended.While the text began with promising black people
(11:50):
with quote an absolute equality of personalrights and rights of property, that same
announcement concluded with this quote, thefreedmen are advised to remain quietly at their
present homes and work for wages.By their present homes, it means the
(12:11):
plantations where they have been enslaved fortheir entire lives. It goes on to
say this, they are informed thatthey will not be allowed to collect at
military posts and that they will notbe supported in idleness, either there or
elsewhere. So yeah, it opensup with freedom, but those freedoms are
swiftly restricted to no longer be consideredproperty in a legal sense. That is
(12:35):
no small thing. There's a hugedifference between being enslaved and working for wages.
That is progress, though it's hardto express how this transition wasn't as
significant as you would hope. Youwould hope that black people's rights were recognized,
the fullness of their humanity was recognized, and they were given that complete
(12:56):
equality that was promised. Instead,they're barred from certain jobs, they're told
to remain in their same position andthat there's a zero tolerance policy for people
who don't find good work. Youknow, the freedmen's lives were not a
k qualk. After that, thearticle goes on to say, quote General
Order number three was a refusal togrant black Americans the full freedom they should
(13:22):
have enjoyed. It informed the formerenslaved that they ought to stay where they
were, that they were expected totoil still for their formeran slabors, that
they ought to not bother the federalgovernment, and that they were to continue
being drivers of economic prosperity for Yeah, you guessed at white Americans. So
I hate to be the bearer ofbad news. And it's not all bad
(13:45):
news. It's a mixed bag.That's what we find with a lot of
history, and you just have tosit with that. I think it would
be wrong to say that Juneteenth meansnothing at all. There's nothing to celebrate,
Like, no, the news ofthe Emancipation Proclamation find being enforced.
That is important for history. Thatis important for those Black Americans, that
is important for their descendants today.That is important, and it's good and
(14:09):
it's worth celebrating and its progress.But also it's hard to like purely focus
on the upspin and really fully celebratewhen they went from being enslaved to something
just slightly better. Slightly better isbetter. But yeah, I'm trying to
convey that Juneteenth represents something that wasgood and not good enough and good at
(14:33):
the same time, which leads usinto the turmoil about the holiday today.
There's this juxtaposition of sad remembrance ofthe worst parts of our nation's history and
also celebration, celebration of the progresspoints. And even June teenth was made
into a federal holiday recently twenty twentyone, signed into law. Even that
(14:54):
got a mixed response from the blackcommunity because some people felt like it was
a strategic move for the government,a marker where people are like, hey
see black people, we're acknowledging itthis big, flashy thing that actually might
not yield much benefit. It couldjust be something to point to as progress.
Look, we made it a holidaywe remember, but kind of a
(15:16):
false progress. That's how a lotof people felt. That's not the boat
that I fall into. I amglad that Juneteenth was made into a federal
holiday. I consider it progress.I think that Juneteenth invites a conversation about
how history is not just these instantaneousmoments of change, but it's often,
unfortunately more gradual, delayed liberation,delayed freedom. The tension there, I
(15:41):
think, is a really good conversationfor us to be having. So I'm
glad that federal holiday status is bringingthis history to a place of common knowledge.
And as I was preparing for thisepisode, I could not help but
see some kind of beautiful, ooignantanalogy connections to the history that's being made
to day. Stay with me here, Okay, this makes me think of
(16:03):
two things. The first is anaside, the second is my point.
First things first, there is acompelling case for how racism is maintained through
not explicitly racist laws, but actuallyrace neutral laws or race blind laws.
And there's even an argument to bemade that chattel slavery didn't altogether end.
This argument was made very popular throughMichelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow, very
(16:26):
well written book, and also throughthe documentary Thirteenth, which is available to
watch for free on YouTube. Andthe basic argument being made here is that
the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution saysthat neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist
within the United States or any placesubject to their jurisdiction. But there was
(16:47):
an exception from day one, neitherslavery nor involuntary servitude except as a punishment
for a crime that accept has beenabused and taken advantage of. And it
took no time at all for thesystem of slavery to turn into the system
of mass incarceration. And the UnitedStates was benefiting from that except that loophole.
(17:10):
So many people, many black people, were still being enslaved, were
still doing forced free labor. Itwas privatized, there's a lot of profit,
and it made a way for enslavementto essentially be continued legally. If
you already know about that, I'llbet you have seen the documentary Thirteenth And
if you want to learn more aboutthat, you should see the documentary Thirteenth.
(17:32):
A powerhouse of experts, lawyers,activists, academics were all brought together
and it's incredibly impactful. My pointhere is that when we reflect on what
Juneteenth represents, it represents a changein the law that was meant to lead
to freedom, but the full effectof freedom was delayed for a long time.
And that leads us to the secondthing I think Juneteenth is really fitting
(17:57):
even today because because there are waysthat better legislation is introduced and flawed ways
of thinking are retired, and racismis rightly done away with, and we're
ready to move forward. And onpaper, we have already moved forward.
We're primed for progress, and that'sgreat, but the ripple effect of that
(18:19):
hasn't been fully felt yet. Thepromises of equity and liberation haven't been fully
realized. Racist attitudes and prejudice beliefshaven't fully changed. Hopping in again to
say, I'm about to start sayingit's twenty twenty three, but just just
humor me and overlook that. Nowit's twenty twenty four, but the point
(18:41):
still stands. Okay, back intoit. I think that's kind of where
we're at, and I think that'sthe origin story of Juneteenth. The origin
of Juneteenth was that though slavery wasabolished, word didn't spread, and when
it did, change didn't take effect. Two whole years went by scratching our
heads. That's shocking, that's unfortunate, that's unbelievable. But think of today,
(19:04):
it's twenty twenty three, the largestjustice movement of my lifetime. Just
happened a few years ago. Wewere all there. Twenty twenty wild Ride
twenty twenty one was when Juneteenth wasmade a federal holiday. It was about
two years ago that there was thisreckoning in our country again. That was
(19:25):
when many people started to catch wordthat inequality did not end with doctor King,
that the civil rights movement of thesixties did not fix injustice altogether.
In the past few years, thenews of that has spread. People are
trying to make sense of prejudice,They're trying to understand privilege. All of
this is very new to people whohave had the privilege of not needing to
(19:45):
think about it until recent years.A few years down the road and we're
still all waiting to see how changewill take effect. We're waiting to see
what this justice movement meant and whatit was will mean. We kind of
don't know. Was it a passingfad or did it change people forever?
(20:07):
Will there be no difference between pretwenty twenty in post or will future generations
look back and see how these yearscatalyzed change. Will they see how an
entire culture was transformed. I don'tthink that's fully been decided. I think
we're the deciders. I think we'redeciding that right now. Are you seeing
the similarities between that moment in eighteensixty five and the cultural moment that we're
(20:32):
in right now today. This isnot a fear mongering thing. I am
not saying that we're in the exactsame place today as we were then.
No, not at all. Ithink it's a real error to equate the
atrocities of the past to the injusticestoday because they are not on the same
scale. That is good news.Slavery is a thing of the past.
(20:56):
The scope and severity of racial discriminationtwo centuries ago, it was drastically worse
than what we are facing today.I will say that, and I'll say
it gladly that we have made somuch progress. I'm not equating the past
and the present. But that said, it is helpful to see how injustice
and progress and delays and hope thesethings are related. In a recent episode,
(21:21):
I'm talking about Robin DiAngelo, andI'm making this point emphatically that it's
good to relate different things related toracism and racial progress and anti racism and
all that. It's not good toequate them. It's not good to hop
and skip over centuries and say thesetwo things are one and the same,
these two things are completely totally equal, because I think that leads us to
catastrophize. So let's not do that. Let's not say that we're no better
(21:45):
off now than we were then,because we are better off now, whoop
deed do? And yet and stillwe have a ways to go now.
When I initially recorded the bits andbobs that are part of this episode,
I hadn't done a deep dive intohistory yet on the podcast. But since
then I've done really lengthy episodes onslavery and on the period immediately following slavery
(22:08):
known as reconstruction. So let megive you the Sparknes version things that could
be covered in greater depth. Thebig thing from the episode on slavery is
that when we're talking about slavery inthe US, we tend to reduce slavery
down to just one of its iterations, one of its later iterations. We
think of cotton and the cotton ginand Eli Whitney, who invented it.
(22:32):
But the big thing I hit homein that episode on slavery is that it
wasn't one uniform period of time slaverylooked very different over the course of the
two centuries, it was in placeand it was progressing. So when we
boil it down to just cotton picking, we're actually talking about a relatively short
iteration of slavery, and we're overlookingthe other many years of slavery. We're
(22:55):
failing to realize that it was acomplex and constantly changing stratiga industry of the
exploitation. That's unpacked more fully inthe episode on slavery specifically, if you
want the deep dive. Now inthe other history deep dive, the one
on the period known as reconstruction,the period right after slavery, I talk
more about the emancipation Proclamation, theCivil War, Lincoln's own shifting views.
(23:21):
But a tidbit that's especially relevant whenwe're talking about juneteenth. We say Lincoln
ordered for the emancipation Proclamation, butfor some reason, the Southern states didn't
carry it out. For some reason, there was this two year delay,
and that reason is that there wasa civil war going on over this very
issue. For Lincoln to even penthe emancipation Proclamation was a very strange gesture
(23:45):
because the whole war that was beingfought throughout the nation, and it was
actively underway was about those Southern statestrying to secede from the Union so that
the federal government couldn't impede upon theirrights to continue with slavery. The Southern
states were trying to withdraw, tryingto peace out because they didn't want him,
(24:06):
in his authority, to say thatslavery must end. So in the
midst of that war, for himto send out the Emancipation Proclamation with this
bold statement, Hey, just soyou know, slavery must end, Yes,
even in your states, it wasa really strange thing. He knew
those states wouldn't comply. That's whythey were fighting this war. So why
(24:26):
would he have done that? Whatwas the purpose of the Emancipation Proclamation in
sending out this message to states whowere actively opposed to the authority of the
president and the federal government. Heknew that the Southern states would not receive
that and go, oh, guesswe'll have to put down the weapons,
free all the enslaved people, andlisten to our president. No, that
(24:48):
was never going to happen. Themessage sent to them was, oh,
I guess Lincoln is making it abundantlyclear now, because it wasn't as clear
before that a Union victory will meanno more slavery whatsoever. The Emancipation Proclamation
was his line in the sand,and he came to drawing that line in
(25:08):
the sand at the urging of FrederickDouglas, who was himself a formerly enslaved
man. I've got a whole episodeon him and his impact of bringing about
the end of slavery. His lifeis crazy, truly unbelievable story. Douglas
a man born into slavery and thenprobably the single most influential person, maybe
(25:30):
second to Lincoln in bringing about theend of slavery and even the Union victory,
because he did so much to recruitAfrican American soldiers to the Union's cause.
That dude is just unreal. SoI'll have his episode in the show
notes too. But my point hereis that when we're talking about Juneteenth and
how the Emancipation Proclamation was signed intolaw, but there was this two year
(25:51):
delay, and finally in Galveston,Texas, they caught the news. Not
like news hadn't spread to Galveston,it had spread to all of the enslavers,
and that's why they had such avested interest in the Confederacy winning the
war. That's why they fought tosecede from the Union. Maybe you're hearing
this and you're like, duh,who doesn't know this? Or maybe you're
(26:12):
hearing this and you're like, oh, I think I'm getting it. The
Emancipation Proclamation not being carried out,that wasn't a surprise to anybody. That
wasn't a surprise to Lincoln. WhenLincoln was sending out that message, he
knew he didn't have real authority overthe Southern States, or rather, he
knew that the Southern States were activelyengaging in war because of their desire to
(26:34):
oppose his authority. The Emancipation Proclamationit wasn't the thing that was going to
immediately end slavery. It was nevergoing to be that it was penned while
the Civil War was still well underway. But what made it such a monumental
historical development was that it finally becamesuper clear. We're is still clear that
(26:56):
if the Union win's the war,slavery is no more, and praise the
Lord. That is what happened.I thought i'd add that info into this
episode. Those other historical deep divesare linked in the show notes. If
you want to go further your learningI should also mention that for the whole
month of June on the podcast,we're doing two fun things. One is
(27:18):
that all of the most listened toepisodes are being re released in the same
way that this one was, withnew interjections, more information, fresh takes.
So basically, it's all of yourfavorite topics with a fresh spin.
And for the entire month of June, for every new rating or review,
I will be donating one dollar toEqual Justice Initiative, an organization that is
(27:42):
on a mission to defend the mostvulnerable, the wrongly accused, victims of
racism, people with disabilities, peoplewith mental health issues, everyone caught up
in our nation's criminal justice system withouta fair defense or fair sentencing. They
take on the work that no oneelse will, and they take on work
(28:03):
for people who can't afford it themselves. So one new rating or new review
is one dollar toward Equal Justice Initiativefor the whole month of June. So
hurry and do not delay, andI'll drop the donation link in the show
notes if you yourself want to donate. I'm sure that many of you.
When juneteen throws around, it's anespecially important time to reflect, to consider
(28:25):
what's happened in history and to reallyengage in the history being made today.
So thank you for taking the timeto get informed and listen to the podcast.
I encourage you. Don't let itend here. There are a whole
lot more episodes that will teach youabout race and anti racism. The whole
mission of this podcast is to makeit easy for you to get informed about
(28:48):
race. Every episode tackles topics thatare culturally relevant and applicable and important.
And you'll notice I come out thesetopics in a way that transcends the cultural
divides. I'm not appealing to groupsthink for us and them. Instead,
I'm offering you a really nuanced,charitable take on these events. Go check
out the other episodes, Share theseepisodes online on social media, send them
(29:11):
to your group chats so that morepeople get informed about Juneteenth and race and
anti racism. That's a great wayto further the impact. Thank you so
much for your support. Hosting thispodcast is truly an honor and a privilege
and a joy, and I amso grateful for every single one of you.
And if you only take away onething from this episode, I hope
(29:33):
it's that change starts with you
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