Freedom isn’t given and juneteenth is proof of this
By Matthew Peterson
Juneteenth is the only celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. Other countries across the world have days of independence and emancipation of the enslaved. The irony in Juneteenth is that the day June 19th, 1865 was when Galveston, Texas had its slaves forcibly freed by the Union soldiers two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 during the Civil War where the motives can be seen out of fear of constant slave uprising in the north, and wanting to get a strategic advantage over the southern confederacy to sew discord between the enslaved and masters. April 1865 is when the war ended, but Juneteenth is seen as when all enslaved peoples of African descent were “freed” in the United States. For comparison, Great Britain abolished slavery in 1834, but didn’t reach full emancipation until 1838. Almost 30 years earlier, but because of the size of their slave colonies, it took four years for all the slaves to be completely emancipated.
Great Britain compensated its slave masters and initially mandated apprenticeships for formerly enslaved over the age of six for six years initially, moving the former slaves into the working class, but still at the lowest social standing. The United States, on the other hand, the first after emancipation was started with 12 years of lynching, random mob assaults, and all sorts of terror that continues into the future.. During Reconstruction, there was no protection in the Constitution for the formerly enslaved, and no forty acres and a mule. Making their workforce have the illusion of freedom by continuing to keep them at the lowest social and economic class while also not protecting their freedom was the biggest theme of the.
Freedom of any sort is a process, but has it really been achieved? How has slavery evolved? Has the celebration of what Juneteenth means become diluted and remains enslaved to the new consumer and capital slave? The facade lies in the destruction of any meaningful production by the formerly enslaved descendants and to maintain the control over their labor, as well as the independence seen by other Black colonies with sovereign land that still remain with no economic sovereignty, and what the possible futures look like that fulfill the true essence of the Juneteenth celebration.
The Facade of Freedom
The Juneteenth delay was because the slave owners in Galveston wanted to maintain their main mode of production. They thought the Confederacy was going to win and didn’t want to lose their slaves no matter what, as it would be the end of their world as they knew it. The only way they could preserve this after the Civil War was to instill fear and violence to stop formerly enslaved communities from being able to grow and prioritize education and begin being in control of their own means of production. They fought Congress to instill policies to keep the formerly enslaved as second-class citizens. This shows the false freedom that was “given” to them that continues today. How can a government grant freedom and enable the terror of one class of citizens on another class without being a flawed government unfit for protecting the freedoms of all of its citizens? We see this still in current times where former enslaved descendants do not get protection or any form of justice from the United States system that exists.
The freedom that was promised or signed on a paper was just a way to evolve the slave system into something different than chattel. We see the comparisons all the time of the slave catcher's evolution to modern police and the racist groups we have come to know such as the KKK being intertwined directly with the judicial system of the country. So how could you consider yourself free? From the basic necessities of life, (food, shelter, water) that should be given to every human, cost you an unfair conversion of your labor and energy to where you give more than you get. The enslavement to the dollar and other constructs that were put in place of the chattel slavery system in order to maintain control is the evolution of enslavement. It is to the point where the masses realize a few of the shackles such as technology, environment, and agriculture, but are so entrenched in the modern slavery they can’t free themselves from the enslavement of consuming, alongside no ownership of their production.
Nobody is free until the powers that be of oppression cease to exist completely. As Fannie Lou Hamer said, “No one is free until everyone is free.” This was true for the original sentiment behind celebrating Juneteenth as well as parallels to the Marxist thought that communism cannot exist until all capitalistic values and states have been purged from existence. This is why the illusion of us being free has always been used even in Juneteenth because those freedoms aren’t secured for us all and allow us to feel as if we have been given sympathy from an oppressor who doesn't care or have sympathy, just an agenda to prolong the enslavement of the working class.
The “Freed” States Worldwide
Other former melanated enslaved colonies have since fought to regain some sort of independence or freedoms. Parallel to Juneteenth, all of the Caribbean countries along with Southern American countries have a carnival or independence day celebration. These extravagant celebrations draw on influence from ancestral traditions and colors and are usually supported by the country that was once the oppressor. The energy is unmatched and the inclusivity of others into the celebration is that of any Pan-Africanist’s dreams. The freedom is still censored in what ways they can celebrate, what symbolism they are allowed to use, and so on.
The allowed freedom of expression comes at a cost of still working under the commonwealth of the country you were once a slave colony for. The sovereignty of having a homeland is made less important by the control of economic sovereignty. Internationally, even if you are able to secure your land, you are not able to own the resources of the land or even make laws protecting the land without the masses on your side. So what sovereign freedoms would you have on that land?
We see all throughout Africa, the central and southern American countries, and Western Asia how the old imperial powers are trying to consolidate their powers and remain in control of the economic dependence these now “free” countries had while being slave colonies. These countries, through economic control, are then not able to progress in any societal sector and instead are kept in chaos and dependency. Even Haiti, the former slave colony of France that was the first to fight for its independence, was then charged by France after winning the war; they had to compensate their oppressor for liberating their people. This is an example of how imperial powers would maintain dominance over their former colonies. The same followed for other countries after securing independence, they were to take on debt with no choice, in order to not be destroyed by the rest of the industrialized global powers and remain in a lower borrowing class in the global economic system. Freedom is never free and can never be given, and from the current treatment and regressions, the same facade of freedom can be seen worldwide.
What Does the Future Hold?
How can we actualize this freedom? Have we fought enough to truly gain freedom? There are a lot of ideals or wants for freedom through different plans of action and beliefs. There is a constant search for identity or belonging by the descendants of the formerly enslaved for some sovereign land or reparations, but is that truly a solution? That would enable attempted assimilation and a more closely tied relationship to capitalist systems. Assimilating to capitalism just puts us in the same position of the oppressor, which we see a lot of in entertainers and performers that are individuals that assimilate to the class level of the dominating force economically, but in society they are still a lower-class citizen to the systems that govern the country based on their color as well.
This applies across the board in the pan-African struggle of the melanated persons in post-slave-colony societies. In the United States, some wish to reclaim the meaning of American and create something new altogether, while some hold on to the history of the former enslaved to further diaspora wars and add more labels to divide us. This is done without the consideration of erasure or oppression of other groups of people with the latter erasing Indigenous Americans' identity and the former creating a new label that allows sovereignty of a land without true possession of it. The landlord is still in control of the land and that power is only getting worse. So reclaiming the label of Black American leaves you with title but no ownership of any material. Parallel to how the melanated populations with sovereign land or beginning don’t have true ownership of any of their means of production or land unless they fight.
The solution is to get organized. Get educated and learn about the objective facts that help inspire your actions forward to create a better world. Destroy the labels and find a science to help you critique your society. Marxist thought shows a scientific approach to which we can conform to our current struggles in order to evolve the thought that freed Russians from a semi-feudal system and put power into the working class. There will be those that enjoy oppressing, a Judas figure, or people who are afraid of using terms they have been programmed to shy away from certain titles and ideals. From scouring the intellectual writings and being inspired by the writings of revolutionary works, communism is the answer for true freedom and destruction of race, class, and other oppressive systems. This is a long, winding process and Juneteenth was a part of the journey for the Black American to gain freedom, but we still have very far to go.
Sources:
https://debtjustice.org.uk/countries-in-crisis/haiti-free-slavery-not-yet-free-debt
https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/law/1833-act-abolition-slavery-british-empire
https://www.archives.gov/news/topics/juneteenth
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/npscelebrates/juneteenth.htm
https://eji.org/report/reconstruction-in-america/journey-to-freedom/#inequality-after-enslavement
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Manifesto.pdf
