there is a physical difference between
the white and black races which I believe
will forever forbid the two races living
together on terms of social and political
equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so
live, while they do remain together there
must be the position of superior and infe-
rior, and I as much as any other man am
in favor of having the superior position
assigned to the white race.”
Simply put, Lincoln was never anti-
racist. However, one can say that Lincoln
had morally and politically detested the
system of slavery throughout his life. His
opinion was that the method of unfree
labor was opposed to the basic postulates
of republican freedom and believed they
would morally undermine the nation.
Lincoln saw great promise for the coun-
try and “rejected the popular notion that
society needed a permanent class of low-
wage workers to provide the foundation
for economic progress—an idea that in its
most extreme form was the rationale for
slavery.” Depicted most prominently in
his “House Divided” speech from June
1858, Lincoln believed, “‘A house divided
against itself cannot stand.’ I believe this
government cannot endure permanently
half slave and half free.” America could
not have sustained itself as a half free and
half slave nation, and thus the concept
of “free labor” was reimagined, making
it opportune for economic progress in
the North to stop reliance on slavery. He
finally reached a compromise with the
radical opponents of slavery at the time,
and they decided that containment of
slavery — to let slavery exist where it was
granted by the Constitution, but prevent
further expansion — would suffice.
Rewinding to the start of the 19th
century, the economy of America was
predominantly agricultural and scat-
tered throughout rural communities.
However, as industries and technologies
began to weave themselves into Ameri-
can society, the rise of railway construc-
tion and factory-based mass production
led to an economic boom. Americans
that were once used to working in small,
local shops or for themselves took up jobs
in the growing number of factories. This
industrial promise of upward mobility
was essential for both the nation’s social
stability and economic prosperity. How-
ever, it was a different story for many
antebellum Americans that remained
advocates for slavery and, therefore,
resented the economic developments that
paralleled abolition. Unlike the northern
states who were boasting industrialized
factories and modern technological devel-
opments, the South still relied heavily on
agricultural economics and consequen-
tially, the enslavement of Black people.
Even after the Emancipation Proclama-
tion declared the abolishment of slavery
on Jan. 1, 1863, many states waited until
the 13th Amendment was ratified by Con-
gress, which was passed by a narrow mar-
gin on Jan. 31, 1865.
Regardless, many Confederate states
refused to follow the order even after
rejoining the Union and so the official
process of liberation did not occur unless
an enslaved person escaped and reached
Union zones or until their enslaver had
been confronted by federal Union troops
with an executive order to release their
enslaved people. The last body of enslaved
people to be reached with the news of
abolishment was in Galveston, Texas on
June 19, 1865 — two and a half years after
the implementation of the Emancipa-
tion Proclamation — marking the official
liberation of all chattel enslaved Black
people in America. Noliwe Rooks, direc-
tor of American studies and professor of
Africana studies at Cornell University,
stated, “The idea that people in that part
of Texas had no idea that the war was
over is farcical, quite frankly. There were
wire services, there were newspapers
… The larger plantation owners were
very wealthy and wealthy people have
access to information. They were brutal
people but they were the ruling class in
the United States. They were elite, many
were wealthy, they were not illiterate or
backwards. They were brutal and inhu-
man, but not ignorant.” The prolonged,
painfully drawn-out end to slavery was
fueled by selfishness, apathy and greed.
For this reason, and many others, June 19
is an important holiday and is recognized
as the true American Independence day
among the Black community. It is offi-
cially recognized in 47 states.
After the Civil War, the Confederate
flag became a heroic symbol for nostal-
gic racists and was sustained as a white
supremacist logo to be rekindled amongst
civil rights progressions in the nation. An
indoctrinated misconception is that slav-
ery was exclusive to the South, but the
reality is that slavery was incredibly pres-
ent in the North, especially in New Jersey.
In fact, the 13th Amendment, which abol-
ished slavery in the Confederate states,
failed to acknowledge the persistence of
slavery in northern states such as New
Jersey which did not officially liberate
their slaves until 1866. It didn’t stop there.
More than 100 years after the Eman-
cipation Proclamation, into the 1960s,
there were still Black families in the
Deep South who had no idea they were
categorically free. From being cyclically
and continuously indebted to plantation
owners to ancestors signing documents
they couldn’t read, 20th century slaves
were not allowed to leave the plantation
property. There was no way for the fami-
lies to know that how they were living
was any different from anyone else in the
country — “the land down [there] goes on
forever. These plantations are a country
unto themselves.” Antoinette Harrell,
who researched and interviewed Black
families who came forward with their
experiences, said, “Slavery will continue
to redefine itself for African Americans
for years to come. The school to prison
pipeline and private penitentiaries are
just a few of the new ways to guaran-
tee that black people provide free labor
for the system at large. However, I also
believe there are still African families
who are tied to Southern farms in the
most antebellum sense of speaking.
A
fter resolving that Presi-
dent Trump was unfamiliar
with the significance of both
June 19 and Tulsa, Sen. Tim Scott,
R-S.C., — the only Black Republican in
the Senate — stated, “I’m thankful that
he moved it … once he was informed on
what Juneteenth was, that was a good
decision on his part.” After this inci-
dent, many have moved to recognize
Juneteenth as a holiday for employ-
ees, including New York Gov. Andrew
Cuomo and companies including Best
Buy, Nike and Postmates, among oth-
ers. This has also been the first year
we’ve witnessed widespread media
coverage of Juneteenth, which has
undeniably uncovered the fact that mil-
lions of Americans are unaware of the
histories of our country.
The demand is simple: Juneteenth
needs to be a federal holiday, one that
recognizes the humanity and deserved
independence of all American citizens,
not only those who sought indepen-
dence to then enslave others. We live
in a nation whose schooling system is
designed to indoctrinate a false his-
tory of America. The White House
and the Trump administration — who
were admittedly ignorant to the day on
which the last enslaved people were
officially emancipated, the significance
of Tulsa and Black Wall Street and the
Tulsa race massacre, which is known
to be the worst incident of racial vio-
lence in American history — symbolize
this complicit American ignorance and
lack of education. We must do better.
We must celebrate Black history, not in
the month of February or when Black
bodies are hanging, but as a way of life
and as American history.
Trump and his campaign aides failed
to grasp the significance of holding a
political rally on Juneteenth, nor did they
realize that Tulsa’s history compounded
the racial insensitivity of already want-
ing to hold a rally amid a deeply painful
time for the country. When asked if the
coincidental scheduling was intentional,
Trump responded, “Think about it as a
celebration. My rally is a celebration.”
However, the president’s rallies never
seem to celebrate anything other than
white supremacy and further division
of the country. In a Politico Playbook
audio briefing, they said Trump is “torn
between the impulse to speak and cater
to his base, and the demands of govern-
ing a multiracial country in the throes of
unprecedented turmoil and upheaval.
He seems generally uncertain of his
place in the moment, and in the broader
history of our country.” It is not surpris-
ing to many, especially after learning of
his inability to grasp the fundamental
history of Pearl Harbor. A former senior
White House adviser said: “He was at
times dangerously uninformed.”
This seems to be a recurring embar-
rassment for the president, but to think
that all of those who advise Trump are
not sophisticated enough to under-
stand the significance of holding a rally
so close to Juneteenth in Tulsa would
also be a dangerous underestimation.
This leads many to believe that Stephen
Miller — a white nationalist, one of the
president’s closest aides and his “xeno-
phobic homunculus” — understood the
direct message they were sending with
the rally: deeper division of the country
along humanitarian and racial lines.
We are often taught that Abraham
Lincoln was the white savior of the
slavery narrative, that he courageously
abolished slavery and the inhuman-
ities that had transpired in America’s
past. This narrative, along with so
many other examples of whitewashed
American history, has been undeniably
contorted when one examines actual
perspectives of the former president.
From Lincoln’s Sept. 18, 1858 debate
with Judge Douglas, he states: “I will say
then that I am not, nor ever have been,
in favor of bringing about in any way the
social and political equality of the black
and white races -- that I am not nor ever
have been in favor of making VOTERS
or jurors of negroes, NOR OF QUALI-
FYING THEM HOLD OFFICE, nor
to intermarry with white people;
and I will say in addition to this that
4
Thursday, June 25, 2020
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FROM THE DAILY
Juneteenth, Black Wall Street and why ignorance is not bliss
A
s we continue into the first days of summer surrounded by nationwide protests
for intersectional Black liberation, many were understandably appalled when
President Donald Trump announced he was planning to hold a rally in Tulsa,
Okla., on June 19. This decision to hold his first rally in three months on Juneteenth, a holiday
that commemorates the ending of slavery in the U.S., and in Tulsa, where this month marks
the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, was deemed racially insensitive by many.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com