People who rail against a national celebration of Juneteenth fail to understand the historical gravity of American slavery. There was no CNN or MSNBC in 1831 to report on Nat Turner’s rebellion against slave owners who cared nothing about the physical or mental repercussions of their chattel. Nor were the slavers caring about the future generations of African Americans who suffered social, psychological and economic injury. They didn’t care about the whites who would go on to disown the history of a terrible chapter.  Of course, it’s no secret that all of us today could be better. Better citizens. Better politicians. Better neighbors. In St. Louis we took a major step in that direction recently by electing our first female African-American mayor, the honorable Tishaura O. Jones.
But by federally recognizing the last of our Black ancestry being set free from the peculiar institution of American slavery and giving “Juneteenth” a rightful place in history with a national holiday, it’s akin to the immortal words of astronaut Neil Armstrong when he became the first man to set foot on the moon: …it’s one giant leap for mankind.
Kevin Boone, St. Louis