Why We Remember: Celebrating Juneteenth 2021

Let us thank God for the opportunity he has given us to draw closer together

Juneteenth 2021

Friends,

“I will never forget the violence of the white mob when we left our home. I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire. I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams. I have lived through the massacre every day. Our country may forget this history, but I cannot ... I am 107 years old and I have never ... seen justice. I pray that one day I will."

These are a part of the words delivered by Viola Floyd Fletcher, just two weeks after her 107th birthday and nearly 100 years to the date of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

Viola, her younger brother Hughes Van Ellis and Leslie Benningfield Randle recently testified before a House Judiciary Subcommittee on May 19 to seek for the reparations and justice that have never been afforded to them and the families of the other victims of this massacre. Some historians say as many as 300 Black people were killed and another 10,000 were left homeless as the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was destroyed by the attack that was launched on May 31, 1921. That date does not seem as far in the past when you sit and listen to the vivid memories of Viola and the other survivors who can recount the horror of the massacre as if it had only occurred yesterday.

There are some who may suggest that it is better we leave these stories in the past. If these tragedies occurred so long ago, why should we take the time to remember these darker chapters in American history? I submit to you that in a time when we are witnessing an all-out assault on the ability to tell the truth about our history happening in the news media, across social media and the internet and even some state legislatures across the country, it has never been more important than now for us, as people of faith who pride ourselves on learning and spreading gospel truth, to create the space necessary to tell the truth about our collective history so that we are not doomed to repeat the shortcomings we uncover.

Each year on Juneteenth, we celebrate another often forgotten chapter of our history which exemplifies both the tragedy and triumph that is connected to the Black experience in America. It also exemplifies the power that we can possess when we remember to advocate for the betterment of the other, of those who are truly our brothers and sisters.

June 19, 1865, marks the date that Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced both the end of the Civil War and slavery. As we know, the Civil War had ended and the Emancipation Proclamation which legally freed enslaved persons was signed on Jan. 1, 1863, almost two and a half years before General Granger delivered the message to enslaved persons in Galveston. Starting that following year in 1866, Texans began to celebrate Juneteenth as a day marked with joy and hope with community-centric events, such as parades, cookouts, prayer gatherings, historical and cultural readings, and musical performances. As tragic as it was that it took two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation for enslaved persons in Galveston to be freed due to the greed, cruelty and indifference of those who claimed ownership of them, General Granger’s example demonstrated the power of remembering to seek justice for the other.

I sometimes wonder how long it would have taken for enslaved persons in Galveston to realize that they were truly free had General Granger not delivered the message on that first Juneteenth of 1865. It is hard for us to guess, but we can be sure that enslaved persons would not have become aware of their freedom unless someone, like General Granger, had the courage to remember. Though Granger had nothing to gain from delivering the message, it was profoundly the right thing to do.

On Thursday, June 17, our country took that remembrance one step further when President Biden signed legislation to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, enshrining June 19 as the national day to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. The legislation passed both the House and the Senate with bipartisan support making this year’s Juneteenth the first that will be celebrated as a national holiday.

During the signing ceremony at the White House, President Biden made sure to recognize a woman who never forgot to remember the significance of Juneteenth. Opal Lee is an activist, who at the age of 89 decided to walk from her home in Fort Worth to Washington D.C. in an effort to get Juneteenth named a national holiday. Opal walked two and a half miles each day to signify the amount of years it took for enslaved persons in Galveston to hear that they were free. President Biden called her “a grandmother of the movement to make Juneteenth a federal holiday” and got down on one knee to greet her in the audience. There is such great power in remembering.

There are several commands to remember that God has given to his people in scripture. There are many that stand out to us within our faith community: to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy; to remember the sacrifice of Christ through participation in communion; to confess our sins because our Savior is faithful and just to forgive, the list goes on and on.

One of my favorite challenges for us to remember is found in the first chapter of Isaiah: “Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.” (Isaiah 1:17, NLT) As followers of the example of Christ, we should always remember to not only awaken those around us to their access to the power of freedom in Christ but also to seek restorative justice in response to their everyday needs.

As our president, Andrea Luxton, emphasized in her Juneteenth letter, Andrews University has pledged to stand against racism and remains fully committed to taking measurable steps toward an ethic of consistent and equitable love, compassion and justice. With this in mind, I invite you to celebrate the triumph of justice and freedom that Juneteenth represents this year and always. I also invite you to continue to remember that there is so much more work to be done, so much more justice to seek, and so many more people who are entitled to freedom. We remember the tragedy of the murder of George Floyd while we also take some solace in the fact that accountability was manifested in the conviction of Derek Chauvin on murder and manslaughter charges. We remember the countless other victims of violence who have not received justice and who still seek it—like Viola Floyd Fletcher 100 years later.

Whether we celebrate or we mourn, it is always better when done in community. While we remember the complexity of Juneteenth, let us thank God for the opportunity he has given us in this moment to draw closer together as we seek to continue to become the individuals and institution that he has called us to be.

Happy Juneteenth!

Grace and Peace,

Michael Nixon
Vice President
Diversity & Inclusion