I heard on the news this morning that it’s Juneteenth Day today.  They were talking about the riots that broke out last year at the celebrations and how the police are trying to avoid that this year.  They showed video of last year’s celebrations and Juneteenth Day parade and explained that the parade starts at 10AM today. 

I had no idea what Juneteenth Day was, so I went to this website: http://www.juneteenth.com/.  I read that it’s the celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation – the end of slavery in the United States.  It seems like this is a celebration in which everyone should be participating.  We should all be happy that slavery is illegal now.  I can’t believe that it’s a holiday I knew nothing about.  People everywhere should be off work for the celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation.  This should be a very important day for us.  Why is it one of those holidays only celebrated in small sections of the city and completely ignored in other areas?  

I’m pretty good at asking these questions, but not so good at coming up with answers.  At least not so good at coming up with answers I find acceptable. 

UPDATE 6/22/07: So sad.  There’s nothing I can say to defend the actions of the people who beat a man after the Juneteenth Celebrations.  Maybe, if we made the celebration more mainstream and put it downtown, it could be safer.  I’m at a loss for words.