MAINTAINING THE MEANING OF : STAYING FOCUSED ON FREEDOM Los Angeles Sentinel, 06-21-07, p. A-7

DR.

The celebration of freedom is to be Garvey, “No better can I give in honor encouraged and applauded everywhere and of the memory of the love of my foreparents all the time, and the celebration of for me, and in gratitude of the suffering they Juneteenth, 19th as , endured that I might be free, no grander gift is, of necessity, no exception. For freedom can I bear to the sacred memory of the gen- is so essential to our lives, our concepts of erations past than a free and redeemed Af- ourselves and our understanding of what it rica,” i.e., both the Continent and Diaspora. means to live and flourish as human beings. To celebrate Juneteenth rightfully In this context Min. makes free- and righteously as a day of freedom is first dom the most essential value in his ethical of all to have the right interpretation of what insistence on freedom, justice and equality happened on that day, , 1865, and to as non-negotiable needs and rights of the tell it in a way that honors and praises our human person. Thus, he states that “free- people, not the oppressor. Surely, the Union dom is essential to life itself” and equally, troops arrived with news of Lincoln’s “freedom is essential to the development of Emancipation Proclamation. But that did the human being.” Moreover, he says, “if not really free the enslaved Africans, it only we don’t have freedom we can never expect offered a legal ground for it that was not al- justice and equality.” For “only after we ways or fully enforced. And even if it were have freedom, does justice and equality be- rightly and fully enforced, the people, them- come a reality.” selves, would still need to decide to be free It is this ethical insight and emphasis and act in freedom in order for freedom to on the priority of human freedom as the take hold in any real and relevant sense. condition and context for justice, equality So it’s not the news and troops alone and human flourishing that lead Min. Mal- that brought freedom. It was the conscious colm to argue the right to pursue and decision of the enslaved Africans to be free, achieve “freedom by any means necessary.” to walk away from the fields, to throw down This phrase is not a claim to do even the un- their tools in the yards, to take off their ethical, but is a cornerstone in his ethics of aprons in the kitchens and their colonial cos- self-defense against oppression, his reaf- tumes in the parlors and walk defiantly out. firmation of the right of resistance and his And finally, it was their decision to stop the call for a courageous commitment to give all horses, get out of the buggy, and let Miss that’s necessary to be free men and women Daisy and her man drive themselves or walk and stand upright and worthy among per- wearily back to that house of horrors they sons, peoples and nations of the world. called home. So when we celebrate Juneteenth, Secondly, we must recognize and drink the red soda water, eat the , respect the fact that there was a psychology turn up the music, and and dance in of freedom needed then and the same is the streets, let’s not forget to stay focused on needed now. We must, as our ancestors, freedom. And let’s remember and continue will ourselves to be free and act accordingly. the struggles of our ancestors which gave Free men and women are responsible per- birth to hope and brought freedom into be- sons, responsible not only for the conse- ing. And let us say with the Hon. Marcus quences of their actions, but also for taking MAINTAINING THE MEANING OF JUNETEENTH: 2 STAYING FOCUSED ON FREEDOM Los Angeles Sentinel, 06-21-07, p. A-7 DR. MAULANA KARENGA initiative and acting in their own image and found spirituality, exquisite art and bodies of interest. To act in our own image is to act as sacred texts second to none. And let it re- Black people, African people, who have mind us of their unjust and savage enslave- both the right and responsibility to exist as a ment, the Holocaust it brought, the great self-conscious, righteous, freedom-fighting sacrifice and suffering, and morally mon- and justice seeking people. It is to celebrate strous destruction of human life, human cul- ourselves and our awesome march thru hu- ture and human possibility. man history with an unapologetic sense of Let us make this a day, then, a time identity, dignity and determination. And to of reflection, remembrance and recommit- act in our own interest is to act always to ment, as well as one of food, festival and free and uplift the people, to imagine and fun. Indeed, it is important that we avoid build the new communities, societies and transforming Juneteenth into a Black 4th of world we all want and deserve. And as our with imported miniature flags, mindless ancestors also taught, it is to speak truth, do bouts and binges of feasting and drinking, justice, be kind, pursue peace, and always do false consciousness about freedom, and a what is good. perverse and pathetic patriotism that teaches Moreover, to celebrate rightfully, we hatred of others, especially the weak, vul- must call our people by their rightful name, nerable and dark peoples of the world. In- Africans, and describe their condition as an stead, let’s mark off the fields for the culti- imposed and coerced one, “enslaved,” not vation of a consciousness of our history and simply collapse their identity and condition a commitment to our ancestors. And in that into one word, “slave,” as if it were the natu- consciousness and commitment, let us reaf- ral condition of a nameless, cultureless, non- firm in practice that in the final analysis, any historical being. There is no respect or serious celebration of freedom requires on- rightful recognition of their identity, dignity going efforts and struggle to secure and sus- and humanity, if we call them simply tain freedom and pass it on as a legacy for “slaves”, as if they have no ancestral home, future generations. Anything less is diver- history or culture, and as if Blacks are so sion and self-deception, hardly the hallmark identified with enslavement one needs no and history of those courageous ones among qualifier. Thus, we must call them enslaved us who used to say, sing and pursue in prac- Africans so that when we tell their story it tice this battle-cry: “my mind is stayed on reflects their and our real identity, rightfully freedom and I ain’t gon’ let nobody turn me links us to the longest of human histories, to ‘round.” a land and peoples of great learning, pro-

Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor of Black Studies, California State University-Long Beach, Chair of The Organiza- tion Us, Creator of , and author of Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture, [www.Us- Organization.org and www.OfficialKwanzaaWebsite.org].