Let’s begin with a simple truth.  History has a lot of holes in it.  Think of what was lost when the Library of Alexandria was torched in antiquity?  How about the history lost to time as America was settled and people left Europe?  There’s a reason 23 and Me is selling those DNA kits and people are paying to find out that while they always thought that maybe they were from one culture, and then get to know that there’s a lot more to it, they are willing to drop $99 bucks.  What about more recent history?  What if it were a piece of history presented in a way that wasn’t pointing a finger…placing blame or doing anything more than stating some facts?  Our story today is just that.  Juneteenth isn’t just a holiday to balance the books of days off for the different races in the United States.  There’s a deep meaning to it, and some other historical facts we had the honor to speak to George Bayard at the Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives about today.  Some of this history…..I didn’t learn until I was 48.  Which I find remarkably alarming.

Stopping to understand that June 19th 1865 – TWO YEARS after the Emancipation Proclamation, the last slaves held in the United States in Texas finally got the word they were free is the ask.  This is not asking anyone alive to do more than stop and think about the mentality of society at that point, and the greed that would be found in the hearts of slave owners to hold that information from people who could have been free.  It’s unimaginable.  In our conversation today, George Bayard and I also discuss some other incidents that have happened over the years to African Americans which have been “lost to history”.  Greenwood Oklahoma is the incident I heard nothing of until I was almost 50.  Have you heard the term “Black Wall Street”.  Greenwood was that.  A completely self sufficient community post slavery adjacent to Tulsa.   A young man tripped getting into an elevator, and startled a white woman.  The price?  Almost 400 killed and the entire community…. ENTIRE COMMUNITY burnt to the ground.  Here’s some of the only footage if you don’t believe me.  GREENWOOD.

Are you as exhausted as I am of our “differences”?  As I have grown and been better able to see more than what’s been presented to me, along with having some incredibly gracious people come in to my life who’ve really taken the time to share their story with me…I have just grown tired.  Us vs. Them?  No.  Something to fear?  No.  It’s just that I didn’t know.  Imagine learning that slavery was so much more than “slaves had to work for free and if they didn’t, they got whipped”.  That was pretty much what was taught in a one hall little private school in Belmont.  Of course we got to see the scars on a guys back too.  How about telling 7th and 8th graders about Greenwood?  Or the idea that the only American coup happened in Wilmington NC because black people were elected?  How about telling them about June 19th 1865?  That people in Texas were willing to withhold the news for 2 years “because they could” that freedom was there?  How about the fact that most African Americans have some Northern European genetic markers in their DNA?  That didn’t come from marriage and dating.  Women were raped, to have more kids…to work or be sold.  I hope that this makes you pause.

To just acknowledge that in the past, some stuff was really wrong.  It’s a great first step.  It’s not like anyone is asking you to atone or repent.  Just understand.  From the understanding, learn.  As a society, just hearing the reality of a couple of the instances over our short history as a nation, we should be able to reckon with what was, and begin to exhale.  Drop the pressure.  Instead, we keep taking the bait.  There’s profit and power in division and honestly, we all know that.  I sat in a room full of highly degreed executives yesterday, knowing this was coming up today and I asked the panel if any of them heard of Greenwood or Black Wall Street.  Not a one.  I am barely a high school graduate in a room full of Masters degrees.  I knew it was time for this story.  My heartfelt thanks to George for joining me.  I hope Juneteenth this year for all of us is a lot more than a day with no mail.

Please visit the Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives!  You can find their website by CLICKING HERE.  They are also on Facebook.  CLICK HERE for that and to keep up with the events, lectures and programs they have coming in the future.  It’s a highly rewarding visit.