Some Thoughts on Juneteenth

I hate to post so soon after Judge Hoarse, who is doing such an excellent job at keeping this popsicle stand legit with great posts of thoughtful wisdom and commentary. He has gathered his own following and deserves praise.

I did not write about Father's Day. I am really too messed up to be able to know how I feel about fatherhood, or my own father whom I love very much. I believe that encoded in my families' genetic material on the paternal side is an inclination to raise our children to be able to kill our fathers (and vice versa) in order to protect the keep. This makes for some problems, like what is familial love?

On the other hand, I know my mind on Juneteenth. Let freedom ring! Celebrate the Jubilee! Maybe people don't realize what a profound and important date this is? You see, when the war broke out, everybody in the deep south sent their slaves to Texas so they wouldn't be taken as contraband by General Butler or General Sherman, et al. Almost a million enslaved people lived and sometimes roamed in Texas throughout the war, and were never told they were free by summer of 1863. It wasn't until General Granger read the two year-old Emmancipation Proclamation from the Galveston warfs in June, 1865, that this huge throng of people knew that that foul institution was over. Crack open a Big Red and drink to the better part of all of us.