What a year for Juneteenth! This holiday is celebrated on the 19th of June every year to mark when the American Civil War ended for African Americans.

It is a bit of a wild story. It was the 19th of June 1865 when a Union General made it to Galveston, Texas to read aloud the Federal Orders that all previously enslaved people were then free. Juneteenth is also known as Freedom Day, Cel-Liberation Day, Jubilee Day and Emancipation Day.

This was the South, the Confederacy , and United States Army Officer, Major General Gordon Granger, was not only establishing the authority of the United States Federal Government over Texas and Texans, he was telling 250,000 people that they were now free and had equal rights under the law. This was not widely respected by the white population, and the era of Jim Crow set in. These were laws made to enforce racial segregation, and attitudes and behaviors that existed outside of actual laws, creating a climate of danger for people of color.

There are usually gatherings and celebrations with emphasis on African American history and culture. These joyous gatherings began spontaneously in 1865 as the news spread among the people from town to town and village to village, sometimes met with oppression and violence by the former slave holders.

But in these times of Coronavirus, gatherings are not seen as wise for health reasons. It is,though, a time when ordinary citizens of the several races are standing together in the streets and asking for these equal rights to be respected. There is even an Universal Declaration of Human Rights that has been written and adopted around the world since that day in 1865, and yet there is still strife. There are still violent reflections of the Jim Crow times. We must all learn and respect our Human Rights and the rights of the other person. "Human rights must be a reality, not an idealistic dream." L.Ron Hubbard

How we treat one another affects us all. Let us celebrate the spirit of freedom and equality with joy on this Juneteenth, Friday, the 19th of June.