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Juneteenth 2024
Today is Juneteenth. You might be wondering why I care.
Must Be Demanded
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Any celebration of freedom can’t be a bad thing. What started as a local celebration in Galveston and then Texas at large, is now a Federal Holiday as of 2021.
Juneteenth is one of the many steps on the road to a better country and a better world. People will decry this holiday as woke nonsense or whatever.
I reject that out of hand. A simple evaluation of the facts at hand shows this to be a perfectly valid and excellent celebration of human freedom.
Like a lot of holidays associated with the abolition of slavery and civil rights for all American citizens, it falls in the category of better late than never.
That’s what Juneteenth was, late.
January 1st, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order issued by Abraham Lincoln that freed over 3 million slaves in the Confederate States.
Did they hear about that? Nope. They were behind enemy lines.
April 9th, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrenders at the Appomattox Court House, Virginia, to end the Civil War.
Did they hear about that? Outside of a horse ride from Appomattox, VA? Nope. News traveled slowly in the 19th Century.
The war was over, but folks only heard about it when Union troops stopped through to make notification and to post peacekeeping forces.
June 19th, 1865, these slow-moving Union forces finally make their way to Galveston, Texas and announce the war is over and consequently slavery is over.
Better late than never.
Has it all been sunshine and puppy dogs since then? Obviously not, but we’re working on it.
I see no harm in celebrating a holiday that highlights one of those crucial steps to a better society.
So, to whom it may concern, Happy Juneteenth.
Juneteenth
History of Juneteenth
This video breaks out the basics on the holiday.
The thing that matters is that the farthest corner of the failed and defeated Confederacy finally got the good news that slavery was finally over.
Who were the Confederacy? They were Democrats.
Who owned the slaves? They were Democrats.
Who terrorized emancipated slaves in their stupid white robes and pointy hoods? They were Democrats.
Who created the Jim Crow laws that we only managed to dismantle with the Civil Rights Act of 1964? They were Democrats.
Who voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in a conspicuous block? Are you seeing a goddamn pattern yet?
Why is anybody still voting for Democrats? What have Democrats ever done that was of any kind of benefit to this country?
With Democrats, you get war, you get drafts, you get financial havoc, you get social upheaval, you get riots and lawlessness.
Juneteenth is supposed to be a day of freedom from Democrat tyranny. Let’s treat it as such.
🧔🏾 Build Strong Children 👦🏾
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. ~Frederick Douglass
In my The Sentinels series, Captain Freedom’s birthday is Juneteenth. The Juneteenth.
Why?
Well, if I was going to do a Captain America type character, I’d probably want him to be born on the Fourth of July.
With Captain Freedom, it seemed thematic that his birthday should be on Juneteenth, being that it is a freedom-related holiday.
That’s all. It’s that simple. Captain Freedom was born on Juneteenth, 1865. He’s got a healing factor. It’s not as rapid as Wolverine or Deadpool’s.
Matt Freeman first served in the 10th Cavalry in Victorio’s War in 1880 and had served in the Army as a secret weapon from that point until his godson arranged for him to join the super team in Empire City in 1992.
He’s got a lot of baggage. He’s seen a lot of really bad things. He’s been shot, stabbed and blown up more times than anyone could rationally stand, but he’s still sane and just wants to be a decent person doing his part to make the world a better place..
When they started up in 1992, they had two basic missions. They were going to be a public-facing superhero team like the Avengers or the Justice League and they were going to contribute to society by providing educational and inspirational school assemblies.
The notion of the school assemblies was to inspire optimism and good citizenship among school kids. They hoped that if they could reach the kids in school, they’d grow up to be decent people.
It’s love paying forward with more love.
Matt had been at war for longer than some people live when he came into Charlie Deagle’s life in the Korean War. Charlie knew Matt was a decent guy at heart, so he invited him to be a part of his family. He agreed to be Lucky’s godfather, further enmeshing him with the Deagle family.
Matt, being a decent guy, was a positive influence in Lucky’s childhood even before the fateful day when Lucky discovered that “Uncle Matt” had super powers.
From that point, Lucky became obsessed with comic books and the idea that other superheroes might exist out there somewhere.
When Lucky’s aunt returned from Jamaica with his younger cousin, Matt had even more love to give and to receive.
Lucky and Phillipe were encouraged to be their best selves by their Uncle Matt. He finally had a well of love and optimism to draw upon as he helped to build up these kids.
Lucky built wealth and political connections until he had the ability to partner with Tim Wisler in founding The Sentinels.
They were going to do what the best superheroes do. They save people and they inspire hope. There is no greater freedom than an indestructible optimism.
That’s what Captain Freedom stands for. He’s a decent guy who wants to help other people be decent. He had a small-scale model in his interaction with Lucky and Phillipe.
Today is Captain Freedom’s 159th birthday, and he’s still going strong. Ready and Forward, Cap.
That’s all for today. Hope the rest of your week is great.