Juneteenth
A Day to Remember

It is interesting how America is slow to catch up with reality. The Scopes Monkey Trial took place a century ago, but some still dis evolution. Another example is the end of slavery in Texas. This is Major Gen. Gordon Granger in the Union army during the Civil War.

Major Gen. Gordon Granger

Granger’s task was to read General Orders No. 3 to the people of Galveston, Texas, regarding slavery.

General Orders No. 3

Granger and 2,000 Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, TX, on June 19, 1865. He was to notify Texans that Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring that all 3.5 million enslaved people were to be set free on January 1, 1863. However, it took the Union Army nearly another two and a half years before they could win the Civil War.

Many Texans waited until they were forced to release their 250,000 slaves on June 19, 1865. That date became Juneteenth within the black community as the official end of slavery in America and their independence day.

Juneteenth

It is interesting that Texas today still has issues related to racism along with women’s reproductive rights, and guns. Often it takes some people longer to catch up with the real world. That raises the obvious question: How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they're forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

Yes, and how many years must a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
And how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

Yes, and how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
And how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'til he knows
That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind