C57: Juneteenth (Giving a Voice to the Voiceless)

The last couple of months have been a roller coaster between my school’s verification visit, leaving my school district (tomorrow), becoming an independent consultant, and my father being put into the hospital to receive three heart stents. Even though it’s been happening all at once, I always believe it’s for the right reasons and there are lessons to be learned. 

In our last episodes, we were talking about the ATL Communication Skills.  Communication is about finding our voice and helping others to get more informed about the world around them.  Sometimes, we have to discuss difficult and uncomfortable subjects, to help our learners better understand the systems of inequity, justice, and accountability.  

This morning, I woke up to Juneteenth, a new federal holiday put into effect by President Joe Biden.  For many outside of the United States, this is nothing special.  Yet, it’s a day that changed everything for so many lives in my country.  It got me thinking about how do we give voice to the voiceless in our country and all around the world?   

​​On June 19, 1863, black slaves being held in Galveston, Texas were notified that they were free due to the Emancipation Proclamation. They were the last people to be set free, since the area was considered quite remote.  Juneteenth took place more than a month after the Civil War ended and 900 days after President Lincoln signed the proclamation. 

Juneteenth was a significant time in our history.  All of the racial issues we have experienced in the past year stem from it.  Yet, many children in our public school system don’t know it exists.  The existence of slavery in our history has been put under the rug and the sting still rests on the shoulders of many Black Americans. Their ancestors were the only ones who were kidnapped, sold to another, and told they were now only ⅗ of a person. 

Last year, I remember watching an interview with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking about the Emancipation Proclamation that it “freed” the black man to a life of poverty.  They were free, but they weren’t afforded the same opportunities that were promised in the U.S. Constitution. Dr. King tried to have a second emancipation proclamation put into place to deal with segregation issues at the time. 

During the past three years, I have worked in an at-risk, predominantly Black American school in one of the poorest areas of Houston, TX.  During that time, I have learned a lot about my white privilege.  Although I am half Asian/white, I recognize now that the way I look has impacted the opportunities I have received.  In addition,  I’ve come to understand the difference of opportunities afforded to light versus dark skinned black people.  It’s a fact.  I have seen it time and time again, even within its own culture.   I’ve also seen multi-generations of people who have missed their calling to be greater, because certain systems keep them oppressed.  

As I reflected further, our nation was founded on the backs of indigenous and foreign people.  The Chinese came to our country and laid every railroad track through much back breaking work.  Through their industry and innovation, they began to flourish by creating businesses.  As they prospered, there was envy by certain populations that they were expelled from the country after 10 years and were ineligible for naturalization. The Chinese Exclusion Act was signed into law on May 6, 1882 and was in effect until 1943.  

I remember in university I truly understood the Indian Removal Act of May 28, 1830.  I cried for a couple of days after I learned the truth.  President Andrew Jackson, the same man on the $20 bill, signed an order that would remove all native tribes from their ancestral lands to snowy Oklahoma.  Based on tribal and military records, approximately 100,000 Native Americans were removed from their homes with little or no possessions. About 15,000 died during the journey west. 

For many generations, Native Americans became wards of the state.  They had little or no hope of opportunity off their reservations.  Alcoholism and poverty became a rampant theme you would see in these remote places that native people called home.  In the past 20-30 years, some tribes have turned their protected lands into a profitable business by opening casinos.  Since this turn of fortune, I’ve heard many local politicians try to cash in on these casinos, but the lands are protected.  Just to be clear, they still pay federal income taxes, but they are declared an independent state and don’t need to pay state income taxes. Once again, someone is trying to take what is rightly theirs for their own gain. 

Every country has indigenous people who have been mistreated and oppressed.  What can we do to stop these things from happening?  I think this is where communication skills are so vital to spread our message to the greater world.  How do we get our students to act in the same way? 

In the present day, I cried the same way when I heard about the Uighurs, the Turkic people in Northwestern China.  These are peaceful followers of Islam who are being kidnapped, taken to ethnic cleansing camps, and stripped of their cultural identity.  Over 3 million have entered these camps and about 1 million are currently being detained.  Many of them are never returned and put into slave labor around China.  How is this being allowed to happen in our present day?  

I’m sorry to be so heavy this week, but this to me is the importance of building communication skills in our learners.  How are we giving them the agency to learn about these injustices and advocate for the rights of others?  

I promise to return to light programming next week and continue on our ATL journey.