Roland S. Martin, Jun 19, 2021 #RolandMartinUnfiltered #BringTheFunk #RMU
Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration
of the ending of slavery in the United States.
It's the celebration of June 19, 1865, when Texas slaves found out that any enslaved people in the Confederate States were no longer property of their masters.
The observance of June 19th as the African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States, prompting many to make it a holiday - both state and national.
Carl Mack, a Historian and Former President, Seattle-King
County NAACP spoke to Roland Martin about why he opposes making Juneteenth a
national/state holiday.
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases a June 19, 2021 vlog hosted by Roland Martin about the national Juneteenth holiday.
This post also presents a portion of the auto-generated transcript of that vlog.
The content of this post is presented for historical and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Roland Martin for producing this vlog and thanks for Carl Mack for information about Juneteenth. Thanks also for YouTube for presenting an auto-generated transcript of this vlog. Corrections of my punctuation, spelling, and other additions to this transcription are welcome.
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PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT ABOUT JUNETEENTH
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
This is a portion of the auto-generated transcript for this YouTube vlog entitled
This transcript is given from 0.14 of Roland Martin's June 19, 2021 vlog to 8:13 without any time stamps. I added punctuation and spelling corrections. This transcript also includes the identification of the speakers as well as a few words in brackets that I believe are understood in the context of the sentence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqapblkrfTE
[Roland Martin speaking]
"I want to bring up my next guest uh. He he is uh out of uh Washington state. Um he is uh of course um um uh former head of the uh Seattle ..uh King County NAACP. Carl Mack is [a] historian.
Uh Carl um [what are] your your issues with Juneteenth? [What are] your thoughts about this action today? What are the issues?
[Carl Mack speaking]
"I think they're historically absolutely incorrect and I think they're insulting to us as a people.
{Roland Martin speaking]
"So who's incorrect? Those who...
[Carl Mack speaking]
"The [United States] congress. That that that bill passing was absolutely incorrect. So what should have been...Okay...So the bill says and what is being taught -and I'll I'll just give you specifically in the state of Washington -and first of all Roland, let me be clear. I have absolutely no problem with Juneteenth. My problem is the historical efforts that are being made [with] and what's being surrounded [by what] I call it "the misrepresentation of Juneteenth."
And and so what happened in the state of Washington is they passed similar Legislation. And this legislation has been passed a lot throughout this country and in this state of Washington similar to what they just did in [the United States] Congress. They said that "the legislature intends to designate Juneteenth as a statewide holiday celebrating the end of chattel slavery".
So what people have been taught about Juneteenth is that those of our ancestors who w[ere] enslaved in Galveston, Texas... number one they were the last blacks to be enslaved in this country... number two that they got the word a year and a half late after President Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Both of those things historically, are just incorrect. There is no other way to put it.
Now all one has to do is to understand this [is that] slavery ended in this country on December 6, 1865 - six months after June 19th.
Now, going back to the Emancipation Proclamation which everybody seems to get so twisted [about], keep in mind what Lincoln said. Lincoln said "for those states in rebellion against the union" (and there were 11 of them. But in the Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln only mentioned 10 of them. And the only reason he only mentioned 10 is because the 11th state that he didn't mention was Tennessee. He didn't mention [that state] because the union already had control of Tennessee. So he said "for those states in rebellion against the union slavery [are] now free uh or "slavery is over".
Now keep in mind [that] there were four border states in which slavery was still practiced. Those border states were Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky, Tenne..uh Kentucky and Delaware. So when Lincoln said that to Congress I want you to imagine this- and you don't ...you don't have to imagine this. It is just a fact. When those 11 states left the union, they didn't act as 11 individual states. They formed the confederacy. And when they formed the confederacy in effect they formed their own nation. Which means they elected a President- Jefferson Davis. They elected a Vice President-Alexander Stevens of Georgia. They wrote a confederate constitution. They were their own nation, brother Roland.
So when Lincoln issue a quote unquote "an executive order" trying to tell them what to do, that's like the Prime Minister of Canada trying to tell the United States citizens what to do. He didn't have any authorization. That's why it took a war.
So that's why I'm saying to you that when the news is that they [the Black enslaved people in Galveston ,Texas] got the word a year and a half late [that they were freed] it didn't matter. The confederacy was their own nation. They didn't give a damn what the United States said, what Lincoln said. That's why it took the war.
Now as far as them being the last blacks enslaved, I just heard your last guest, I've heard all of you say how important it is to get it right.
There's a movement that has swept this country that we should all be proud of -Black Lives Matter". Black Lives Matter. Do do we think that black lives just started mattering? Because let's go back to what happened with the Emancipation Proclamation...Lincoln said that in those states not in rebellion against the union slavery is still legal. Keep that going. Two of those states were Delaware and Kentucky. Two of them w[ere] Maryland and Missouri. And keep in mind [that] West Virginia wasn't a
state when the civil war started. It became a state after Virginia seceded [from the union] and those 48 counties didn't want to secede so they became a state after the civil war.
So now,let's look at those five border states- Maryland...on November 1st, 1864 before the civil war ended ...Maryland abolished slavery. Missouri.. on January 11, 1865 before the civil war ended...they abolished slavery. West Virginia, the newly entered slave state, on February 3rd, 1865 ended slavery. The civil war ends on April 9, 1865. Two months later Granger rides into Galveston, Texas and
issues General Order Number Three which we now call Juneteenth.
I asked you to remember what was going on in Kentucky and Delaware after the civil war. What was going on in Kentucky and Delaware after Juneteenth? I'll tell you, Roland. There were 225,000 of our ancestors still enslaved and they did not taste freedom until December 6, 1865 when Georgia became the 27th state to ratify the 13th amendment.
That is my problem with what is going on in states all across this country [about Juneteenth] and that is my problem about what just happened in the United States Congress.
If you want to designate a date in which all black folks can celebrate freedom that date -as far as I'm concerned, as far as history appears to be concerned- it's December 6th because that is the day in which Georgia ratified the 13th amendment.
Now as it, as it applies to Delaware and Kentucky, keep this in mind Roland. Delaware didn't ratify the 13th amendment until 1901. Kentucky ratified the 13th amendment in 1976 and the state that I'm from Mississippi...Mississippi didn't ratify the 13th amendment until February 7, 2013.
So do I have a problem with Juneteenth? Absolutely not. Do i have a problem with the historical record...Right...right every every part of that I got a problem [with that]. And and I think that has been -first of all- like for years we were all linking free to slaves [that one account of freedom for slaves with freedom for all slaves in the United States] well again and those there were people who took exception to uh [African American historian] Lerone Bennett and others who who corrected uh... who corrected that.
Uh, frankly, what we have is.. we have folks in this country with with a bumper sticker version of history.
Uh the reason i think um you see the focus on Juneteenth is I think it goes back to this here-
Because Texas became the first state to actually make it a state holiday. And so what then happened was there were other people who wanted to recognize that fact.
So all of a sudden Juneteenth events then went out....for everybody.
To understand Juneteenth was a Texas holiday. To your point which you just laid out...that was specific to Texas when General Granger arrived on the shores of Galveston, uh on the beach in Galveston and delivered uh uh that that particular announcement.
I think what happened was other people gravitated to that and then it then became this sort of all-encompassing moment to say "Okay. Here's something that actually recognizes uh uh slavery or the
ending of slavery in this country. But you're absolutely right and i think now...I believe now the opportunity is now is to-in the words of Paul Harvey "Now tell the rest of the story"....
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