Why do African-American people celebrate everything under the sun but themselves?

A colleague of mine sent me a video on Juneteenth and after I viewed the video I realized something that shook me to my
core. African-Americans do not know the true meaning of Juneteenth and therefore do not know the importance of this
celebration to African-Americans.

First of all the historical reference of the emancipation of enslaved Africans by President Lincoln has to be corrected.
President Lincoln had no intention of freeing the enslaved Africans remember the country was at war with the Confederates
and what Lincoln intended with the emancipation was to further break down the confederates by disrupting their lives as
much as possible, win over France for support of the north and have the enslaved Africans from the south to fight for the
north. It was a strategy of war nothing more. Slavery in this country did not become illegal until the 13th , 14th and 15th
amendments became law. The 13th amendment ending the practice of slavery, the 14th amendment gave decedents of
enslaved Africans citizen rights and the 15th amendment gave us the right to vote.

President Abraham Lincoln, were concerned that the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the freedom of
slaves in ten Confederate states still in rebellion in 1863, would be seen as a temporary war measure. They supported this
amendment in order to outlaw slavery throughout the United States. wikipedia on the 13th admendment.

As you can see the Emancipation Proclamation only freed the enslaved Africans in the 10 ten states in rebellion against the
United States. Since those ten states were fighting against the United States government the Confederate south did not
recognize the proclamation as law and the north had no direct authority to enforce the proclamation.

Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news
that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation
Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal
number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of
General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.
Juneteenth world wide celebration.com.

Now that we have the historical record correct let’s take a look at present day Juneteenth. Before we do let me say that the
celebration has value to the descendents of enslaved Africans. It is the Independence Day for our people kind of like our 4th
of July. With that said there are several things our people should understand about celebrating Juneteenth. First we are
celebrating African-American freedom. Second we are remembering the greatest holocaust on the planet. There are
estimates that anywhere between 3 million and 10 million Africans died during the Middle Passage. For those that do not
know about the Middle Passage that is the route the slave ships took from west Africa to what is now the Caribbean to the
United States.

The MAAFA is a Kiswahili term for "Terrible Occurrence" or "Great Disaster". It refers to the Black Holocaust
when millions of Africans died during the journey of captivity from the west coast of Africa to the shores of America,
known as the Middle Passage. Our ancestors died in the belly of slave ships or choose death by jumping into the sea
rather than live in captivity.

It is a remembrance of the thousands of African Americans lynched and murdered before and after the end of
enslavement. This especially includes the Red Summer of 1919 and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, considered the
worst domestic terrorist event in U.S. history.
NationalJuneteenth.com

Now with that said we should see the importance of celebrating Juneteenth and the deep reflection we as a people should
do every year to remember the greatest holocaust of all. We as a people should never forget this and we should pass this
on to future generations so they do not forget.

You may have noticed that all through this writing I refer to us and us as a people. The reasons for this are that we do not
see ourselves as a people but as a group of individuals which is the third reason we need to celebrate Juneteenth. African-
Americans in this country have a unique and shared history. No other group of people in this country has gone through what
we have gone through! So the celebration of this holiday should also be used to bring African-Americans together to reflect
on our humanity!

Juneteenth is an historical holiday for African-Americans to celebrate and we can not get that right. The other holiday is
one invented by an African-American for African-Americans and is a cultural holiday to replace the lost culture of our
ancestors striped away during the enslavement of our ancestors by corporate and government interest in the United States
and England. That holiday is Kwanzaa. We must understand the importance of Juneeteenth in order to understand the
importance of Kwanzaa. By understanding Juneteenth and the enslavement of our ancestors we will then understand why
we must replace our lost culture with the holiday of Kwanzaa. I feel that African-Americans do not value themselves enough
to celebrate themselves but we value all the other holidays celebrated in American culture and then some. By celebrating
these two holidays Juneteenth and Kwanzaa we place value on ourselves. African-Americans must see the necessity of
celebrating these two holidays if we want to get to the core root of our problems.

Go to community talk radio.com and check out the video on the website The Truth Behind Juneteenth: a Paradox of
Freedom. Then join me live on my program to discuss this film June 15, 2010 from 9 pm to 10 pm call in use your cell
phone it is a free call after 9 pm. 646.716.9236 or call our 800 line and leave a comment on the film 866.451.3617and I
will replay your comments on the air during my live broadcast on June 15.
Carlos Carr Sr. is the vice president of Juneteenth Nebraska, Inc, program director for Community Talk Radio.com and host
of On the Real with Carlos Carr Sr. which airs on community talk radio.com the first and third Tuesday of the month from
10 pm to 11 pm.
Also look for Bass Notes with Merritt Smith as he interviews and plays the music of the National Juneteenth chair Rev./Dr.
Ron V. Meyers. You must heard this informative and inspiring interview with Dr. Meyers as he has traveled all 50 states to
get each state to recognize the Juneteenth holiday or observance. He is also a minister, medical MD and jazz musician. He
resides in Tchula, MS and works full time in a hospital emergency room and operates a free health clinic in Tchula for the
poor residents there. Truly a remarkable man and you can only get this interview on Community Talk Radio.com. You can
purchase a CD of this interview for $5.00 in which proceeds will go to Dr. Meyer’s free clinic in Tchula, Ms and to the 2011
Juneteenth celebration. Please contact Community Talk Radio.com by email ctr1@q.com or call the studio at 402.451.3200.
You can also hear and meet Dr. Meyers right here in Omaha, Ne on June 13, 2010 at the Love Jazz and Art Center 2510 N
24th street for the Juneteenth fund raiser, Art show and social starts at 6pm, jazz concert starts at 7 pm. You can also pick
up the promotional CD and Dr. Meyers new release Doctor’s Orders. For more information call 402-451.3200. tickets are
$15.00.

. Bass Notes with Merritt Smith airs on the 1st and 4th Fridays of the month from 9 pm to 10 pm only on Community Talk
Radio.com. Listen and Pass it on!