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
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Alanna Berger
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Jenny Gurung
Cheryn Hong
Zoe Phillips
Mary Rolfes

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Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s Editorial Board. 
All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.

EMMA STEIN
Editor in Chief

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

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

