Holyoke Community College Reflections on Juneteenth
By Diamond Smith
This year has been one of turbulence, where we have seen societal awareness arise for minorities, like Stop Asian Hate which comes in the midst of violent hate crimes against Asian Americans, as well as Columbus Day being changed to Indigenous People’s Day. We have — as a people- have been through traumatic experiences with the pandemic, racial injustices as well as numerous deaths of loved ones through these tragic events. Reflecting on Juneteenth, marks the rise of many protests that sparked changing tides in how we speak to one another about racial injustices with targeted minority groups. In celebration of Juneteenth, we honor all those who were tragically lost due to systemic and civil injustices that have plagued this country for years. We commit to honoring those who were under enslavement. While shedding light on the racial cruelty and dehumanization of African Americans.
On June 19, 2020, a Virtual discussion took place, by Zoom, during the annual celebration of Juneteenth (which marks the freedom of enslaved people on June 19, 1865.) Holyoke Community College faculty and students were in attendance for this beautiful and needed discussion in the heat of the current year marking George Floyd’s death.
It was a pivotal moment to have such a reflective conversation with faculty and students. In school institutions we notice there is no recognition for the jovial celebrations enslaved people experienced through their trials and fears. These types of dialogues are about acknowledging the truth and the importance of Black history.
As of June 17th, 2021 Joe Biden had signed Juneteenth into a bill creating it as a national holiday.
What is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth is a day commemorating the freedom of enslaved people. There’s heightened sovereignty to those who have been impacted by bondage in the United States. Africans have died, and were enslaved, due to racism and bigotry that surrounds our country’s past. This moment in history has ties with the civil war.
On June 19, 1865, General Gordon Granger, a U.S. Army officer and Union general from the North- arrived in Texas to gain control of the state along with his thousands of troops. This occurs two months after the civil war has ended. General Granger’s travel through Texas, confirms, “the freedom of the last remaining enslaved in the deepest parts of the South.” Eleanore Park writes, “What is Juneteenth?”
Union lines set 500,000 enslaved people free to take advantage of the North for newfound opportunities. On June 19th, 1865, Lincoln stated, “All persons held as slaves shall be free,”
According to The Wall Street Journal article entitled, The History of Juneteenth, writer Park states, “Juneteenth is an annual holiday observing the end of slavery in the U.S. and marks the day (June 19, 1865) when news of emancipation reached people in the deepest parts of the former Confederacy in Galveston, Texas.” Park, Eleanore. “What is Juneteenth.” To this day, the discrimination and active violence towards the Black community in America is still an occurring issue.
Panel Discussion
Why haven’t we learned about Juneteenth?
After watching a brief overview of Juneteenth through a Youtube clip entitled, “Black History Month: The meaning behind Juneteenth,” Uploaded by Global News, we dived into the reasons why this is a recurring issue that plagues school systems.
April Gazarino, Elementary and Secondary Education Coordinator of Holyoke Public schools: Within school systems — teachers get their information from the state standards, and I don’t know if this is in there. It would help if publishers put it in, but typically they create their curriculum for the largest states like Texas and California, and then other states adopt what they need or the one that meets their needs. until it is put in by the publisher, it is difficult to disseminate.
Now that we have the answer, what is the cause of this ignorance? Why does the American school system ignore the most important history that makes American History, American History?
Claire Sanders, Chair of the Deaf Studies department, states: I do include this history when I teach my classes. There is so much information that is important for people to know. I think I handle it as a bit of a whitewash, and I didn’t know that until someone let me know. I now apply it to my teaching. I realize how much Black Deaf Americans have contributed and their history is everyone’s history.
As we were speaking, I did recall a class I took last semester called, “Lies my teacher told me,” with Professors Diane Beers and Patricia Kennedy. It was a great demonstration of how history has been rewritten. Many heroic figures, such as Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X amongst others in our history, have been through a process of “herofication”, James W. Loewe, (the Author of Lies My Teacher Told Me) calls it, which paints these figures into mythological beings who can do no wrong. Breaking these stigmas of American History and teaching the truth of enslavement is integral to unifying the American people, despite racial, ethnic or religious differences. Black history is not just about enslavement but about our achievements, and how we have had to show our resiliency as a people, despite centuries of oppression and anti-black ideologies
President Christina Royal, of Holyoke Community College quotes Harriet Tubman,“Now I’ve been free, I know what a dreadful condition slavery is. I have seen hundreds of escaped slaves, but I never saw one who was willing to go back and be a slave.”
Why is it important to understand the cultural oppression that hinders us as a society? And, why should we have these discussions?
Tell us about your experiences
Samantha Robinson 20’ sophomore student at Holyoke Community College: This is my first time to speak about this, so it’s difficult for me. Back in high school, I had a friend who unfortunately passed because of a gang-related shooting. He was one of my closest friends, and I wanted to get his story out there. I don’t know if a lot of people understand the struggles he went through. I understand it because I went through a lot of the same struggles with transferring to different schools. To hear what happened to him, took a toll on me. To see the struggles he went through; he went to Putnam and then transferred. And to lose him a week before his 20th birthday, because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He had a great future ahead of him; he played football and was on the wrestling team, and it was all taken.
Why is there gang violence within the Black community and how are Black youth affected?
The reasons are due to:
- Gentrification (the act of pushing lower class, impoverished residents from a specific neighborhood in order to conform the influx of middle class and affluent families)
- Redlining (the fact of businesses, and companies refusing service to inner city Neighborhoods and communities based on their geographical location). These issues have caused various issues that ripple into classism forcing Black communities to be more impoverished.
- Over policing and racial stigma has also contributed to the violence seen in some Black communities today.
What about the existence of gangs in the Black community?
Gangs came into existence within the Black community as a form of protection against police, who were often affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan. These police were not only involved with the KKK but also had ties to other local gangs. “The Spook Hunters” was one gang that was created within white suburbia. They especially posed a threat to the Black community due to the growing number of African American residents in the neighbouring city of Los Angeles. The birth of “gangs” in the Black community occurred as a response to the attacks by other White groups. Thus, the emergence of gangs offered the Black community protection against systematic prosecution by the White community during that time in history; Its development was not one built on violence and illegal activities as is commonly associated with gangs today.
Monique Nelson BSA Advisor and Academic Counselor: I’m feeling a lot of things, and this won’t come out perfectly — But I feel very grateful for my ancestors who survived being taken from their home and being shipped halfway across the world to go into slavery. I would not be here if they had not survived all the horrible things that happened to them. I am grateful that they survived. I am the mother of two sons and a daughter and the wife of a veteran who is fighting for their rights. All the things I want my children to be are what could get them killed. I want them to be strong and stand up for themselves and for others, and I just don’t know. Despite everything else, I am grateful for my ancestors and for opportunities like this where we can share and learn from each other. I am grateful for the colleagues at HCC who show so much support and love.
Shelden Johnson: I am heartbroken that one Black man and then another a few weeks later had to die to have this conversation. George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, and all those others who did not choose to sacrifice their lives. I feel a great sense of responsibility to present long term change through this conversation and as vice president of BSA, to continue working for those who have died tragically. That one comment speaks to me, and maybe because of the things I have gone through, just simple treatment, compared with others among my peers. Each time I go outside, I have a sense of fear, and it’s being shown in the future of the next generation. Police treatment toward other people, primarily African-American shows how much things could have been different. This one color [skin tone]could just mean a lot of different terms among a lot of different people. Especially to law enforcement… Sometimes it’s an everyday thing and sometimes I am desensitized from it, because it’s what I’m used to, and it shouldn’t be like that.
I have dealt with a lot of discrimination growing up as well; I went to school where I was the only Black girl in most of all my classes. At times I was tested and broken down; I woke up not wanting to be Black because of the way people treated me. I dealt with racial criticism from both teachers and peers. I’ve noticed during classes, I only learned about the lynhcing of my people, and how people see us instead of how we saw ourselves. We are alive and human. I had to educate myself about my blackness and who I am since the school system didn’t do this. This is my form. I am not just Black — I am a woman, I am a writer. Due to the stigma history has placed on Black people in America, we are only seen as a threat, or a derogatory stereotype. America’s dark history has left a mark on the generations of Black youth and those to come. We [the Black community] have these stigmas and identities society makes us carry, this is how we navigate through our lives whether we like it or not. We aren’t free mentally. Everywhere I look, I see the modern lynching of Black people, in schools, formally in textbooks with bodies of enslaved people. In addition to this, it is in music videos that portray a glorification of gang violence, and drugs. We as a people are so much more than that. At times, it can be traumatic roaming this world with a black body but despite these challenges — we got through it and we are still persevering in spite of the dark ancient history that was placed on us.
As writer and scholar Ta-Nehisi Coates has said, “In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body — it is heritage. Enslavement was not merely the antiseptic borrowing of labour — it is not so easy to get a human being to commit their body against its own elemental interest.” Coates, Ta-Nehisi. “Ta-Nehisi Coates: ‘In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body.”
Reflection of our Moment of silence
After our discussion we had a brief moment of silence for all those who have died due to racial oppression and injustice within the society of America
What did you take from it?
Student of HCC: I feel angry. They had dreams and purpose and families and things they were going to do. It just infuriates me, when I think about someone like Sandra Bland who reacted in a way I would have reacted, and she was snuffed out, and it just didn’t matter and now we have a moment of silence for her, and I feel like she had so much more she wanted to do in her life; it’s just not right.
Samantha Robinson: It’s not fair, and I feel like there has to be change, but change is going to take time. What we can do is come together as a community, and say this is wrong; All people are just people and the color of your skin or your religion should not matter. That is the problem — they see the color and not people. They see the flaws; but we have to understand we are not all perfect. It’s not fair that innocent lives are being taken away from us. I feel it’s people who see others for who they are, and maybe if that happens this world will be a better place.
What could we do about these continuous tragedies within the Black community?
Robert Greeney physics faculty of Holyoke Community: I am nervous about speaking, but I really want to say something. I was a college student during the Civil Rights movement. I went to Vietnam; I was in the Peace Corps and came back during the time in the early 70s/late 60s, and I feel like I’m back where I started. This is a job we all must do; for the betterment of African-Americans and every person on this planet. Please let’s put our energy together, the energy of this moment to see the changes we all need for our own health and benefit…recognition of Juneteenth shows the importance of Black history. We need to do hard work. Expressing and working through this anger is the starting point. But love and inclusion are essential to change. That is so important. We need to move past this. We are free, but we have so much discrimination within America. We need love in our hearts.
Monique Nelson: I am going to learn more about Black History. I have only been in this country since 1999, so I am going to do that and educate my children and my family. My parents don’t know what Juneteenth is, so my small role is to educate the people around me.
Amanda Sbriscia, Vice President of Institutional Advancement: We could continue to offer opportunities like this to educate. Like these conversations, to include a safe and welcome space for everyone.
Stephen Bailey Technical Director of Holyoke Community College: Justice should not just be for the few; how much you can afford should not be the question. It is justice for all.
Theresa Beaudry Director of Nursing for the Department of Nursing: To make changes in the healthcare system, I plan to actively listen … to see, hear people from every race and culture. Assessment of biases, to consider methods I can employ to stop systematic racism. To stand up for those with racially diverse and cultural backgrounds to conform to action, even when we’re uncomfortable. To educate myself on human rights, and use my voice to educate others.
Rachel Rubinstein, Vice President for Academic & Student Affairs: In the space of this hour, we have moved from joy and celebration to education and anger, grief, and pain. These [talks] are all forms of resistance and engines for change. I want to make space for this continuum for us.
This is what should be taken from this moment. We have opened the space for information that has been hidden from us in history for so long. Honoring people like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Micheal Brown, Eric Garner, Eligh McClain, Aiyana Stanley-Jones and so many other Black men and women and to those who were on the slave ships. It has been long over due to honor these individuals. Currently with the use of media and technology, the countless deaths we’ve seen desensitize us. It has become so normalized. Hashtags such as BLM, and the black screens held for Black lives matter have normalized -but are these hashtags reflecting our advocacy and awareness in our lives? The next step is to be open to discussion and dialogue with others who may not see the same way we do. We should continue to engage in other techniques that will spread awareness. These steps will help us become a more inclusive, and diverse society that will foster growth for the generations to come. We need to grow, promote advocacy and continue these conversations with family and friends.
Thank you all for attending this discussion
Juneteenth Virtual Discussion Hosted by the Black Student Alliance (B.S.A.) Club
Juneteenth Meeting via Zoom (June 19, 2020 3:00pm-4:16pm)
Credited Resources
Park, Eleanore. “What is Juneteenth?”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/the-meaning-behind-juneteenth-11592413234
2020, June 19. Web. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. “Ta-Nehisi Coates: ‘In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body.” The Guardian. The Guardian, 20 Sept. 2015 .Web. https://amp.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/20/ta-nehisi-coates-between-the-world-and-me-extract
Kelly, Melissa. NSGP Diversity and Inclusion Task Force (August 09, 2020). Talk Therapy Tübingen and Talk Therapy Cambridge, 3 Wilhelmstrasse, Cambridge, MA (2020)
