[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 109 (Wednesday, June 23, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E681-E682]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                JUNETEENTH NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE DAY ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 16, 2021

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, and Chairman McGovern, I thank the 
Committee for today's markup of H.R. 1320/S. 475, Juneteenth National 
Independence Day Act, the companion to H.R. 1320, the Juneteenth 
National Independence Day Act, which I introduced in the House and has 
over 166 members as sponsors.
  Earlier this week the CBC; led by myself and Congressman Torres of 
New York, held a Special Order, on Juneteenth and so many of my CBC 
colleagues commemorated this historically significant day for all 
Americans, but especially African Americans.
  Juneteenth is as significant to African Americans as July 4 is to all 
Americans because on that day, June 19, 155 years ago, General Gordon 
Granger, the Commanding Officer of the District of Texas, rode into 
Galveston, Texas and announced the freedom of the last American slaves; 
belatedly freeing 250,000 slaves in Texas nearly two and a half years 
after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
  When General Granger read these words of General Order No. 3 set off 
joyous celebrations of the freedmen and woman of Texas:

       ``The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with 
     a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all 
     slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights 
     and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and 
     the connection therefore existing between them becomes that 
     between employer and hired laborer.''

  Juneteenth was first celebrated in the Texas state capital in 1867 
under the direction of the Freedmen's Bureau.
  Juneteenth remains the oldest known celebration of slavery's demise, 
commemorating freedom while acknowledging the sacrifices and 
contributions made by courageous African Americans towards making our 
great nation the more conscious and accepting country that it has 
become.
  As the Nation prepares to celebrate July 4th, our national day of 
independence, it is a time to reflect on the accomplishments of our 
nation and its people.
  I want to thank the Members of the House for their bipartisan support 
of this annual Juneteenth Resolution, which has 214 cosponsors, of 
which 202 are original sponsors.
  General Granger's reading of General Order No. 3 ended chattel 
slavery, a form of perpetual servitude that held generations of 
Africans in bondage in the United States for two-hundred and forty-
eight years and opened a new chapter in American history.
  Recognizing the importance of this date, former slaves coined the 
word ``Juneteenth'' to mark the occasion with a celebrations the first 
of which occurred in the Texas state capital in 1867 under the 
direction of the Freedmen's Bureau.
  Juneteenth was and is a living symbol of freedom for people who did 
not have it.
  Juneteenth remains the oldest known celebration of slavery's demise.
  It commemorates freedom while acknowledging the sacrifices and 
contributions made by courageous African Americans towards making our 
great Nation the more conscious and accepting country that it has 
become.
  The celebration of Juneteenth followed the most devastating conflict 
in our country's history, in the aftermath of a civil war that pitted 
brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor and threatened to 
tear the fabric of our union apart forever that America truly became 
the land of the free and the home of the brave.
  The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, ``Freedom is never 
free,'' and African American labor leader A. Phillip Randolph often 
said ``Freedom is never given. It is won.''
  Truer words were never spoken.
  We should all recognize the power and the ironic truth of those 
statements, and we

[[Page E682]]

should pause to remember the enormous price paid by all Americans in 
our country's quest to realize its promise.
  Juneteenth honors the end of the 400 years of suffering African 
Americans endured under slavery and celebrates the legacy of 
perseverance that has become the hallmark of the African American 
experience in the struggle for equality.
  The poet Langston Hughes reminds us in his famous poem, ``Mother to 
Son,'' life in America for African Americans ``ain't been no crystal 
stair.''
  The post-bellum period in America was marked by violence and 
terrorism against African Americans as they sought to make real the 
promises of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
  Nowhere was the reign of terror to which they were subjected more 
horrific than the 1921 Tulsa-Greenwood Race Massacre, which occurred a 
century ago this past May 31 through June 1.
  Tulsa's Greenwood District was known as ``Black Wall Street,'' and 
was the most prosperous African American community in the United 
States.
  The Greenwood community with a population of over 10,000 Black people 
had stores that sold luxury items, 21 restaurants, 30 grocery stores, a 
hospital, a savings and loan bank, a post office, three hotels, jewelry 
and clothing stores, two movie theaters, a library, pool halls, a bus 
and cab service, a nationally recognized school system, six private 
airplanes, and two black newspapers.
  But on May 31st of that year, the 35 city blocks of Greenwood went up 
in flames, at least 300 Black persons were murdered and more than 800 
were injured; it is estimated that not less than 9,000 were left 
homeless and destitute.
  The message of the Tulsa Race Massacre was clear to Black America: 
``Stay in your place. Do not attempt to accumulate and bequeath wealth 
or own property. Remember your history in America is as chattel 
property.''
  If they were still alive, the domestic terrorists of the mob in 
Greenwood would see their evil reenacted--and then followed by a 
similar attempt to cover it up and foster collective amnesia--a century 
later in the siege and desecration of the hallowed halls of the U.S. 
Capitol, the `Citadel of Democracy'.
  It should not be overlooked that the source of the January 6 white 
mob's irrational anger, hatred, and violent reaction was that Black 
Americans voted in overwhelming numbers in Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, 
Philadelphia, and other enclaves to oust the most pro-White supremacy 
President since the Civil War.
  Some might ask ``Why dwell on the past? Let us forget unpleasant 
things and move on into the future.''
  My answer is to quote the great southern writer William Faulkner: 
``The past is never dead. It is not even the past.''
  The hatreds, prejudices, resentments, and white supremacy that Black 
Americans witnessed and suffered in Greenwood a century ago are not 
dead; they are not even past.
  So my message to the descendants of the survivors and victims of 
slavery, America's Original Sin, is to keep fighting for justice, to 
never be silent, to affirm the truth, and seek accountability.
  In his famous Second Inaugural Address, President Lincoln spoke of 
the profound moral debt owed for ``all the wealth piled by the 
bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil,'' and that 
the Civil War was the judgment of the Lord, which was ``true and 
righteous altogether.''
  That debt remains to be paid, which is why African Americans have 
always peacefully petitioned the government for the redress of its 
grievances.
  As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King said at the 1963 March on 
Washington:

       ``In a sense, we have come to our Nation's capital to cash 
     a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the 
     magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of 
     Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which 
     every American was to fall heir.
       ``This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as 
     well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights 
     of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
       ``It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this 
     promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are 
     concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, 
     America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which 
     has come back marked `insufficient funds.' But we refuse to 
     believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to 
     believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults 
     of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this 
     check--a check that will give us upon demand the riches of 
     freedom and the security of justice.''

  In recent years, a number of National Juneteenth Organizations have 
arisen to take their place alongside older organizations--all with the 
mission to promote and cultivate knowledge and appreciation of African 
American history and culture.
  Juneteenth celebrates African American freedom while encouraging 
self-development and respect for all cultures.
  But it must always remain a reminder to us all that liberty and 
freedom are precious birthrights of all Americans, which must be 
jealously guarded and preserved for future generations.
  I am pleased to see this important legislation before this Committee 
on the eve of it becoming law.

                          ____________________