HOUSTON––Even though, then-U.S. president Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 proclaiming, “That all persons held as slaves are, and henceforward shall be free,” captured Africans remained in the forcible custody of white people in Texas until June 19, 1865.
Many Africans in the U.S. are preparing to celebrate Juneteenth, the holiday that remembers that day in 1865.
Really, what is there for Africans to celebrate?
Smithsonian.com article titled “Juneteenth: Our Other Independence Day,” offers this as a possible answer: “In amazement and disbelief, the 250,000 former slaves in Texas learned that they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation…Shocked, disoriented, most likely fearful of an uncertain future in which they could do as they pleased, the liberated slaves of Texas celebrated. Their moment of jubilee was spontaneous and ecstatic, and began a tradition of marking freedom on Juneteenth.”
Such a ticklish suggestion.
Free on an alien land?
How is that Emancipation?
The thieves that stole already-free Africans also stole the land that they are letting their stolen Africans “free” on.
Let a captured bird free or a hooked fish back in the sea, that’s the last time you will see that bird or fish. But not an African in the U.S.
A genuine Emancipation Proclamation would have had Africans, newly freed from the parasitic clutches of white power, on fleets of ships destined for Africa, along with the 200 years’ worth of wealth which the U.S. accumulated in the commodification of black skins.
Instead, the worthless document left Africans stuck in an environment where we must constantly beg, plead and attempt to convince white people that “black lives matter” everyday. This is not “liberation.”
“Not Yet Uhuru”
As an African Internationalist, I am non-liberal on these facts:
The primary struggle of African people within the U.S. during this current period is to throw off the alien colonial domination which is responsible for virtually every hardship imposed on Africans by this government.
African people in the U.S., Africa and elsewhere have a right and responsibility to solve our own problems, free from the unwanted, and self-serving interference of U.S. and western imperialists. The U.S. and western imperialist interference in the affairs of our people is designed to maintain the continuation of the theft of our human and material resources and our oppression and impoverishment.
True freedom is the ability to get as far away, in proximity and otherwise, as possible from those who have held us captive.
True freedom is having the ability to address issues pertaining to developing a fruitful future for all Africans throughout world.
Currently, Juneteenth is a celebration of U.S. Africans’ emancipation from chattel slavery. We still are not able to work in the interest of the African nation as a whole.
We are forced in every election to vote for the white person or African who will forward the agenda of the white ruling class, hoping that one of the available candidates will throw the African community a bone.
The African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) is clear that we are not yet free––we are “Not Yet Uhuru.” That is also the theme of our Juneteenth event at the 5th Ward Community Garden, located at 3707 Brill Street in Houston, Texas.
We encourage everyone to come out!
Chairman Omali Yeshitela of the APSP; Aisha Fields, President of the All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project (AAPDEP); as well as other speakers will express to our “Juneteenth: Not Yet Uhuru” attendees that Juneteenth was just one of the initial steps to freedom.
Real work must be done to secure true liberation. Join the African People’s Socialist Party, lets get all the way free from the mandates of self-serving white power.
Uhuru!
Uhuru Means Freedom!
Uhuru in Our Lifetime!
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