Juneteenth is busting out all over
Chicago skirts holiday issue as competing bills mandating state celebration remain sidetracked in General Assembly
Gov. Pritzker joins a Juneteenth celebration a year ago at the Thompson Center in Chicago. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
Juneteenth is busting out all over.
Recognition and acceptance is growing for June 19 as the day that has come to mark the end of slavery in the United States.
But will that lead to it becoming a state or national holiday?
There are a couple of other dates that mark the end of U.S. slavery. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring slaves free on Sept. 22, 1862, shortly after a bitter Union victory at Antietam in the Civil War, and it took effect on the following New Year’s Day, which of course is already a holiday. The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawing slavery, meanwhile, was passed by Congress on Jan. 31, 1865, and it was ratified later that year on Dec. 6, after the end of the Civil War and Lincoln’s assassination.
Juneteenth, by contrast, grew out of African-American celebrations of a relatively obscure event: the arrival of Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger and U.S. forces in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, with belated word that the South had been defeated and the Civil War ended. Granger also carried an official proclamation known as General Order 3, beginning: “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.”
African Americans have increasingly celebrated the day ever since, not just in Texas but across the nation. According to the Juneteenth National Registry, celebrations tend to focus on education and self-improvement, with rodeos and fishing common pursuits stemming from its Texas origins. The same goes for barbecue, with the barbecue pit the center of attention. Red foods like strawberry pie and soda are typically featured, as The New York Times reported that the color is "a symbol of ingenuity and resilience in bondage."
Now, in the wake of nationwide protests against police brutality and institutionalized racism following George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police late last month, momentum is growing to declare Juneteenth an official holiday. It’s already a state holiday in Texas, and just this week New York and Virginia moved to follow suit. There have been calls to make it a national holiday, but thus far there’s been no movement on that in Congress, although Sen. Kamala Harris of California, the former Democratic presidential candidate, announced plans Thursday to prepare a bill.
Juneteenth is typically celebrated by politicians, and Chicago took tentative steps toward declaring it a holiday on Wednesday, when the City Council passed a resolution stating: “Chicago recognizes the value, sacrifice, and contributions the African-American community has made to this city and will commit to publicly and widely recognizing the great significance of June 19 every year.” But it pulled up short of declaring the date a formal city holiday.
South Side Ald. Leslie Hairston passionately spoke in favor of the resolution for eight minutes and 46 seconds — the length of time Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was seen on video with a knee pressed down on Floyd’s neck — and Mayor Lori Lightfoot also seemed receptive to the holiday debate, although she argued that the economic collapse brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic made it a poor time to be granting a paid day off for city employees.
“It’s certainly worthy of consideration given the importance of the holiday, the historic meaning of it,” Lightfoot said at a news conference following the council meeting. “But obviously, in these difficult budget times, tough choices have to be made.” She signaled, though, that she’d be open to the idea in better times in the future.
At a ceremony a year ago at the Thompson Center in Chicago, Gov. Pritzker declared it “Juneteenth in Illinois,” but again without making it a formal holiday, although his support came through loud and clear.
Pritzker recited Granger’s proclamation, adding, “The battle for absolute equality was not won … and it continues today.
“Change is slow and painful and not always linear,” Pritzker said. “That especially feels true today with the guy that’s occupying the White House,” of course meaning President Trump.
Yet Pritzker added that sometimes, after long struggles, the pace of change increases, and he might be called on to recognize that Friday when he marks the date.
Two competing pieces of legislation declaring Juneteenth a state holiday were introduced in the General Assembly last year — House Bill 3867, sponsored by Rep. La Shawn Ford of Chicago, and House Bill 3875, sponsored by Rep. Thaddeus Jones of Calumet City — but both were sidetracked to the Rules Committee in October, and nothing changed during the abbreviated legislative session this spring, ultimately shortened to just a few urgent days by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pritzker has already ordered flags lowered to half-staff statewide Friday to honor Juneteenth, in response to calls from politicians including Ford. “Illinois should lead the nation in condemning hate and racism, and I urge the governor to show that we stand together by lowering flags to half-staff across the state and pausing for a moment of reflection,” Ford told WMAQ-TV in Chicago. “Juneteenth serves as a time of reflection and as a time for more action to deliver justice for those who have faced racism throughout their lives.”
“The governor is committed to honoring both the celebration of Juneteenth and paying respect to those who lost their lives, by lowering the flag in honor of them," Pritzker’s office said in a statement. "The governor recognizes that, now more than ever, Juneteenth is a day that reminds us that the fight for justice and equity across the nation is not over, and while we will celebrate the end of slavery, we must also recognize the systemic racism that has time and time again reared its ugly head and honor the memory of those who have died simply because of the color of their skin.”
The governor was slated to attend a Juneteenth peace march stepping off at noon Friday in Chicago’s Grant Park, joined by U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, among others.
One state agency is making use of the de facto holiday this year. The Illinois Department of Human Services has declared Friday to be the Black Census Day of Action, in an effort to get African Americans to complete their 2020 U.S. Census forms. According to the department, just 65 percent of state residents have completed their Census forms, ahead of the 60 percent nationally, and ninth-highest among the 50 states, but that’s still in danger of badly undercounting the Illinois population.
The department will join in a Black Census Day celebration on Instagram at 7 p.m. Friday, including Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, and a performance by Taylor Bennett, younger brother of Chance the Rapper.
In an interview this week with Chicago Sun-Times columnist Maudlyne Ihejirika, the department’s statewide census director, Marishonta Wilkerson, made the case for taking part in the Census as a form of protest, especially as the U.S. Constitution originally called for a slave to be counted as “three-fifths of a person” for the purpose of allotting congressional representation.
“The census is a form of protest,” Wilkerson said. “It goes hand in hand with what is happening in our nation right now with the Black Lives Matter movement, and with the push for social justice, equity and reform.
“We are not the only hard-to-count population,” she added, “but we are one of them, so we have to let people know that in the midst of protesting, in the midst of supporting black-owned businesses, completing the Census is another way to support their communities.”