Juneteenth Another Fake Holiday, or Not

 

One of my daughters married into a family who didn’t seem to think much of the “Hallmark Holidays” that our family had always acknowledged in some way.  We had always thought about gifts and honored Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day,  and perhaps other special days with cards and gifts, some carefully selected, others thrown together at the last minute.  Our children went to kindergartens that worked on crafts to bring lovingly home to show off on refrigerators.  We wouldn’t think of ignoring the day.  In recent history there seems to be one after another of these being voted into law by Congress, no less, and even our family can’t keep up with all of them.  Facebook reminds us, merchants remind us incessantly.  There they are, here they come, HONOR THEM!

I never thought much about some of these holidays honoring minority groups as belonging to anyone but that minority until I gave birth to a son with Down Syndrome, and there became a day to honor those with the condition.  I realized that somewhere, sometime, someone had campaigned to raise awareness of the contribution to society the persons with Down Syndrome make, and that they succeeded in convincing the powers that be that it deserved recognition.

The other night I happened to be watching a panel of gurus on my favorite liberal talking heads show, and the white moderator was asking whether white people should celebrate Juneteenth, and I heard some very erudite answers from the panel of African Americans.  You can read more about it in this link from the Encyclopedia Brittanica: Juneteenth | History, Meaning, Flag, Importance, & Facts | Britannica , or just do a little thinking of your own. 

What would it mean to you as a person of color, or gender, or a person of different abilities, or of a different sexual orientation or preference if one day you were given official recognition that you had the same rights as all of the rest of society, and that the rest of society actually was happy about that right?

To me it meant that my son had the right to a public education appropriate to his abilities.  At the time, I wasn’t happy with what the public education had to offer, so I sent him to a private school, just as I did his sisters.  But had I not been able to afford a private school, and we  just barely could, he would have had the right for me to fight for what he needed in public education.  Later on, when he graduated, he was given some job training at no cost to me other than my tax dollars helping to pay for the public monies that paid for the programs he was enrolled in.  His employers had no right to discriminate against him simply because of his condition, but looked only at whether he was capable of doing the job they needed him for. 

 he has worked at the same job for almost twenty-four years.  He, and they, are really proud of this fact.  He receives assistance for transportation to and from work that also enables him to participate in community activities and church activities.  He leads a really great life, and that life will be celebrated on National Down Syndrome Day.  In our city, Memphis, hundreds of people turn out to help celebrate these wonderful people who participate in medal winning sports, own businesses, are employed, and even have their own ballet/dance company.  They contribute their community as well as receive…and yes, we celebrate that fact.  Our friends line up to eat hot dogs and watch the events and parade around a stadium to show that support!

The African Americans who were freed on Juneteenth so very long ago have gone on to have offspring who have become a reliable and strong labor force, and those who have been allowed a good education have become professionals like lawyers, doctors, dentists, and even Supreme Court Justices. They are fulfilling the dreams of those who long ago didn’t even know for several years that they had been emancipated, and even after emancipation even today face many hardships that aren’t all their own fault.

 Just like being born with Down Syndrome, they were born with darker skin.  Different on the outside, but with the same needs as everyone else otherwise.

Let’s celebrate with them in some way, large or small, and help them continue to be the same as the rest of us, achieving all they would like to achieve, each according to his or her abilities.