Sholeh: Juneteenth's freedom is universal

The point of officially recognized holidays isn’t simply to acknowledge history. It’s more about keeping what was behind that history alive — to better understand how we got, and how to keep, what we tend to take for granted.

Like freedom.

Take a few moments tomorrow to think about what yours means to you. The freedom to direct your own life. To choose when, where, and how you work, live, eat and pursue life’s broad array of possibilities on your own terms. To be your own master and own your own body.

That’s what Juneteenth’s universal message represents. And it’s why what was once considered merely “a Texas thing” or at most, a Southern one, has become Juneteenth National Independence Day, a federal holiday now officially observed in most states, including Idaho.

The scale of human bondage was astounding. In 1860, Virginia’s 550,000 slaves represented a full third of its population. In South Carolina around the same time, enslaved people literally outnumbered free whites.

Juneteenth, also called Emancipation Day or Freedom Day, marks the end of a three-year journey carrying President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation to 10 states of the former Confederacy. While the proclamation preliminarily took effect Sept. 22, 1862, it didn't reach its final destination in Texas until June 19, 1865.

June 19. Juneteenth.

Those years represented a terrible waste. Too many former slave owners feigned ignorance or were blatantly defiant, operating business as usual despite having heard the news. The 1862 (final version in 1863) proclamation was not a law but a military measure, a use of the president’s constitutional authority that only applied to states that seceded from the Union. By the time it finally reached Texas in 1865, the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery nationwide had already been passed.

All big news, which few "property" owners wouldn’t have heard about.

Nevertheless, it took a general and 2,000 troops to drive home the message: No more. No more trafficking, abuse or torture of human beings was to be tolerated in the United States.

July Fourth may be the nation’s birthday, but June 19 was when the most basic freedom — the freedom to be one’s own master — became possible for every American. It took more than a century to really get how important that is in our history, how intrinsic it is to what we perceive as basic American values.

Texas was the first state to declare Juneteenth an official holiday in 1980, one of only four before the year 2000. In my 22 years in Texas, Juneteenth was a big deal, with massive public picnics and family barbecues, outdoor concerts, and daylong celebrations — and I do mean multiracial celebrations. Freedom shouldn’t have a color.

So, when I moved to Idaho in the 1990s, it felt odd not to commemorate such a major event in U.S. history. As in most northern states back then, June 19 was just another summer day.

That’s changing across the nation. Juneteenth celebrations are catching on in Idaho, with celebrations in Boise, Pocatello and Moscow this year.

Its symbolism reaches beyond the U.S. borders as sadly, slavery remains a modern problem. In a few Asian nations, for example, slavery or the bonded equivalent still exists, legally or otherwise. Even in the U.S., human trafficking and illicit slavery, especially of women and children, continue in secrecy. If you doubt it, check out a public rest stop along an interstate and read the hotline notice on the back of stall doors.

Some things transcend nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, culture or economic status. The drive to be the master of one's own destiny, to be truly free, is inexorable. It is the frustration of that desire — attempts by some to exert control over others — that is at the heart of the world's tragically unnecessary troubles.

“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, cannot long retain it.” — Abraham Lincoln

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Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Email sholeh@cdapress.com.