Reactionaries who oppose Juneteenth are the political, ideological, and spiritual descendants of those who were defeated in 1865. They dominate today’s Republican Party.
Like I said, even pointing out a glaring contradiction is enough to provoke a sanctimonious lecture on the need for white people to humble and scourge themselves. You're proving my point. One could argue that it's a privilege to be in a position to humble and scourge yourself, to find it a novel enough experience that you need to seek it out. So I guess the Union soldiers who literally died in the Civil War weren't fighting against slavery except for the one in ten who were black? So the 90% who weren't black were getting bayoneted and blown apart on the battlefield for some other totally unrelated reason, and their sacrifice should not be acknowledged or honored in any way, hell, let's split on their graves, maybe it'll earn us some brownie points among upper middle class sociology grad students who've never been slapped.
"Juneteenth, on the other hand, was the result of the United States – the country conservatives claim to love above all else! – *winning* the most destructive war in its history and defeating a traitorous rebellion. Why are conservatives acting like they are told to celebrate their own defeat? The answer is that, in a very profound way, that is exactly what is happening."
Bingo.
The fascists want to establish (re-establish, that is) an apartheid state in the service of White cis gender hetero males, just like in 1860. Also, they want impunity to brutalize and murder with impunity whomever they choose. (That part hasn't changed so much.)
As with most things, there's usually a grain of truth even in the dumbest stuff. It's still not clear if or how white people are supposed to "celebrate" Juneteenth. I heard on a podcast recently that it's only black people who should celebrate; that while the Civil War was about slavery for the South, it somehow wasn't about slavery for the North. That seems like a logical backflip to me. The Confederate soldiers get all the disgrace of fighting FOR slavery, but the thousands upon thousands of Union soldiers who were killed by the pro-slavery side don't get any credit or thanks for fighting AGAINST slavery.
According to my Indivisible group, white people should spend the day donating to black-led nonprofits and buying from black-owned businesses, which sounds more like atonement than celebration to me. So...yeah. We do need to talk this stuff through, but it's hard when even just making a comment like this is likely to get you the side eye.
Americans have been so caught up in The American Century idea that we rarely (read ‘never’) consider what the post-WWII situation was like in other countries. What re-thinking was required? How countries had to reconsider choices they had made. Apparently it took Germany 25 years to start that process. 160 years after the American Civil War and we have still not managed to figure out who won and who lost. Thanks for this excellent article!
Why the Right Has a Problem with Juneteenth
Like I said, even pointing out a glaring contradiction is enough to provoke a sanctimonious lecture on the need for white people to humble and scourge themselves. You're proving my point. One could argue that it's a privilege to be in a position to humble and scourge yourself, to find it a novel enough experience that you need to seek it out. So I guess the Union soldiers who literally died in the Civil War weren't fighting against slavery except for the one in ten who were black? So the 90% who weren't black were getting bayoneted and blown apart on the battlefield for some other totally unrelated reason, and their sacrifice should not be acknowledged or honored in any way, hell, let's split on their graves, maybe it'll earn us some brownie points among upper middle class sociology grad students who've never been slapped.
"Juneteenth, on the other hand, was the result of the United States – the country conservatives claim to love above all else! – *winning* the most destructive war in its history and defeating a traitorous rebellion. Why are conservatives acting like they are told to celebrate their own defeat? The answer is that, in a very profound way, that is exactly what is happening."
Bingo.
The fascists want to establish (re-establish, that is) an apartheid state in the service of White cis gender hetero males, just like in 1860. Also, they want impunity to brutalize and murder with impunity whomever they choose. (That part hasn't changed so much.)
As with most things, there's usually a grain of truth even in the dumbest stuff. It's still not clear if or how white people are supposed to "celebrate" Juneteenth. I heard on a podcast recently that it's only black people who should celebrate; that while the Civil War was about slavery for the South, it somehow wasn't about slavery for the North. That seems like a logical backflip to me. The Confederate soldiers get all the disgrace of fighting FOR slavery, but the thousands upon thousands of Union soldiers who were killed by the pro-slavery side don't get any credit or thanks for fighting AGAINST slavery.
According to my Indivisible group, white people should spend the day donating to black-led nonprofits and buying from black-owned businesses, which sounds more like atonement than celebration to me. So...yeah. We do need to talk this stuff through, but it's hard when even just making a comment like this is likely to get you the side eye.
Americans have been so caught up in The American Century idea that we rarely (read ‘never’) consider what the post-WWII situation was like in other countries. What re-thinking was required? How countries had to reconsider choices they had made. Apparently it took Germany 25 years to start that process. 160 years after the American Civil War and we have still not managed to figure out who won and who lost. Thanks for this excellent article!