7/2/12 -- Protest Rally Set for July 16

An announcement has been placed on the Better Health Group medical cannabis collective website calling for a protest in front of the Vallejo PD following the raid by police on June 22. The protest is to take place at NOON, in front of the Vallejo Police Department on Amador St.

More on the Better Health Group website: www.betterhealthvallejo.com

 Also, security camera footage of the first raid has been posted here: http://www.youtube.com/user/betterhealthgroup

Ethicalego (Kenneth Brooks) discusses current events from a critical thinking perspective rarely expressed elsewhere

Juneteenth travesty of a freedom celebration

By Kenneth Brooks

6/28/12

The travesty of another Juneteenth commemorating June 19, 1865, as African-American heritage day when the last slaves learned they were free is over. The slaves in Texas hearing from Union Army officers they were free may have been the last slaves freed by President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Nevertheless, they were not the last slaves freed, because slavery continued in parts of America not covered by the Emancipation Proclamation like Kentucky.

People disrespect their heritage with sham celebrations of false history. At minimum, one expects they would read the Emancipation Proclamation they cite as foundation for their heritage of freedom. No reader of the proclamation could mistake its terms as a mandate for ending American slavery. President Lincoln's proclamation did not declare the end of slavery in the United States, because the Constitution does not grant presidents this authority.

He wrote, "I Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, in time of actual armed rebellion against authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing the rebellion do. . . ." Then, he named the states in rebellion where the Emancipation Proclamation applied. He restricted its terms to states in rebellion against the United States. It did not affect slavery in other states like Kentucky, Delaware, and New Jersey that remained in the union. It even exempted sections of some Confederate states like the thirteen parishes in Louisiana and the seven counties in Virginia along with forty-eight other counties designated as West Virginia.

I do not deny the importance of the Emancipation Proclamation as a weapon against slavery or importance of the Juneteenth celebration as a symbol of freedom for Texans. However, Juneteenth as a national celebration of the ending slavery based on the Emancipation Proclamation distorts history and extent of federal power granted by the Constitution.

Lincoln knew his war powers ended with the defeat of the Confederacy and that slavery would likely continue where the Emancipation Proclamation had not applied and would rebound in the defeated Confederate States. He and some members of Congress wrote a proposed 13th Amendment outlawing slavery that Congress approved. Then, 27 of the then 36 States approved the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution on December 6, 1865 and freed the last 40,000 or so slaves in Kentucky and other places in America.

People's misplaced reverence for the Emancipation Proclamation as the instrument of their freedom and end of slavery is distressing. I recall with mortification the decades that I held the simplistic belief of a magical document that freed all the slaves. I still believed this nonsense as a college graduate, because this is what schools taught and continue to teach. I learned differently from reading history outside school textbooks.

I was especial naïve about the significance of the Emancipation Proclamation given that New Jersey, the State of my birth and upbringing, was a slave state exempted from its provisions. Additionally, states of New Jersey, Kentucky, and Delaware, not covered by the Emancipation Proclamation, voted in 1865 not to approve the 13th Amendment.

Although a bold move by Lincoln, the Emancipation Proclamation was only a meaningless paper promise of freedom that required Union Army victories to give it force. The history of 180,000 or so black-labeled soldiers in the Union Army fighting to enforce the proclamation's provisions of freedom is a more solid foundation for a heritage of freedom for people that rely on a race-based identity than commemorating Union officers telling slaves on a certain date they were free.

Copyright © 2008-2012 Ethicalego.com Reproduction without written permission for profit making is prohibited. Reproduction for personal use and distribution that include the Ethicalego copyright and address is permitted.

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Anon II   |July.07.2012 I agree - Mr. Brooks, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson should go off and help liberate the many thousands of young Asian women being enslaved for sex, and domestic labor each and every day of late. Let them take their energies to help the next generation of used, abused, and compromised people who don't happen to be Black this time. Mr. Brooks, maybe you could give us a history lesson on that travesty and get off your African Am soap box for a break?

Billy the Greek   |July.02.2012 I am not sure that Mr. Brooks is concerned with "what day should be a national holiday for this or that" ... he is quite correctly zeroing in on some factual errors in generally accepted (whatever that may mean) history. Quite frankly, his article was refreshingly concise and well supported. Thank you, Mr. Brooks for some decent scholarship for a change.

tramky   |July.02.2012 Eliminate Martin Luther King's birthday as a national holiday, and replace it with a national holiday--however defined--as the commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States. Let Mr. Brooks and Al Sharpton come to a jointly-held conclusion of when & what that would be.

Anonymous   |July.01.2012 I appreciate the accurate accounting of history and so, thank you Mr. Brooks. I suspect that, had the knowledge of what Juneteenth is (and isn't) was widely understood, Mr. Brooks might not have such a strong reaction to this day of observation (should be a holiday!). On another note, "The Original 21ers" African American workers on Mare Island, contributed significantly to the civil rights movement. Vallejo should celebrate the achievements of these local heros instead of Juneteenth!

Mariner's Landing   |July.01.2012 Too bad that it is not a bigger holiday complete with fireworks and the day off from work. Let's face it, we make a big deal out of our freedom from the British and we were only slaves to being taxed by them. Just imagine being completely owned by someone and then being freed.

tramky   |June.30.2012 Well, it can be said that the United States celebrated something about black emancipation when Barack Obama was elected President of the United States. I'm not sure what Brooks' point is--is it that the Emancipation Proclamation had no effect? Is it that black are stupid for taking on the Juneteenth celebration? Is it that whatever is taught about the Emancipation Proclamation is part of a conspiracy of white people (hmmm, I understand that Juneteenth was conceived by a black man). As for slavery, it STILL is in operation today. Human trafficking, mostly involving Asian women brought into the United States--and other countries for that matter--to serve as 'sex workers', is a form of slavery. But I'm pretty sure that black slavery has been done with for quite a long time, and while the Emancipation Proclamation may not have marked the absolute end of slavery in America, it certainly marked a notable beginning to its end and is worthy of note and, yes, perhaps some celebration.

Salty Dog   |June.29.2012 Looks like Mr Brooks is suffering from a dearth of responses. Frankly I find the entire discussion tedious in the extreme. If we are going to have a freedom celebration that is inclusive, why not simply celebrate being American, or, in my case, having the privilege to live in the United States. And what better way than to start with a Pirate Celebration of individuality without race, followed by a Fourth of July recognition of the rights and freedoms and responsibilities one has in this color blind (in theory) country. There are many shameful incidents in any country's history, particularly when viewed from the perspective of today's standards. That they occurred, cannot be changed and whether or not a segment of the population received full recognition on this date or that date seems to be really cutting a fine line to set up and retain differences rather than promoting unity. I had not heard of Juneteenth until this year. I would much prefer to celebrate similarities rather than differences that, in my view, simply perpetuate differences. Perhaps I am missing something here and if so, I may have to revisit my thoughts about Juneteenth.

Clarke Johnston   |June.28.2012 I gather that Mr. Brooks is technically correct, that the proclamation didn't include Kentucky, Delaware and New Jersey. Further, that continued fighting brought death to 180,000 black soldiers who soldiered on. But what day or event shall be the focus of such hoped for attention and recognition? Some date during the reconstruction? History can be a very dry subject, often only a wrote recitation of dates, boringly taught by half-hearted teachers. Awkward southern pride, then exemplified by the "Lost Cause" movement, meshes currently with an equally awkward fascination with Civil War re-enactments. Equally perplexing is the oft seen Confederate Flag flown infield at NASCAR races. This is still, in spirit and color, part of the state flags of Mississippi and Georgia, to this day. A dear friend of mine was notably uncomfortable seeing the confederate flag displayed at Sears Point, and helped me to understand his feelings, something a history class totally missed. I simply can't get too exercised at the slight misdirection of Juneteenth, as we, as a nation, still have a long ways to go.

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