Sigh. When we can’t deal with reality, we deal in symbols.
We put up statues to memorialize, and anoint heroes, as a political act… Why really vile Insurrectionist Generals like NB Forrest, or corrupt Segregationist politicians like GA’s Eugene Talmadge or NC’s Zebulon Vance were needed as heroes is a testament to White Bigotry..
Sad as fuck that an extra work holiday is about a good a thing as way too many workers get in these new-serf times.
Slightly more germane: Based on the MLK birthday holiday, this will achieve nothing substantive. I of course defer to anyone who’s made proud or happy by the existence of the holiday.
In 1972 Randy Newman released one of the classic American albums - Sail Away. The title song , considered by many to be one of Newman's best, is a drop dead ironic recounting of the sales pitch a slaver may have used to convince Africans to sail away to America, the land of opportunity. The sweet, gentle song packs a real gut punch once you realize where it's coming from.
A year later. On prime time TV, on the new breakout CBS hit, The Sonny and Cher Show, Fifties Pop music icon, the crooner Bobby Darin, offered up his swinging version. Newman famously commented that he didn't think Darin quite understood that it wasn't a happy song. I have a pretty high opinion of Darin's talent and taste and think perhaps he felt that the swinging showbiz version actually upped the irony quotient of the song. Either way - yikes!
Senator RonJon (R-Serfs) went to Milwaukee’s Juneteenth celebration and was booed, after he even voted for the damn thing, how dare they? Instead of holidaying, those unemployed Milwaukeeans should move north and fill the seasonal jobs in Minoqua, summer destination of hordes of white Chicagoans and home of Wisconsin’s most right-wing Representative, Tom Tiffany. “Enough singing and dancing, get back to work!”
I know there has been grumbling from some on the left that this is a hollow gesture (and of course the right always grumbles when POC get anything), but I think this is an important move. To paraphrase Roy, a small prize on the way to bigger things. I never heard of Juneteenth while in school, as I'm sure is true of most people who didn't grow up in Texas and parts adjacent, but can you think of a more uncynical day of celebration? Forget what was to come in the years ahead, but just appreciate that Juneteenth marks the day when we as a country finally finished freeing its people unjustly held in bondage by their fellow countrymen. Plus, it marks another delicious victory of the Union over the Confederacy.
Again, we know what was to come, but Juneteenth wasn't a holiday created by white people as a token gesture. It was a day celebrated by black folks for years before it hit the national radar. Marking the date as one of both joy and remembrance? It's the least we can do as a nation.
I heard the head of our local NAACP chapter say that when she was a girl, Juneteenth meant, to her, barbecues in the park. She had no idea what the holiday meant, but it sure was fun. That's as it should be.
What does it say about us that we needed to do that?
Britain, Spain, France, before us, and Brazil too late (largely, I've heard, to avoid a mass migration of rich American Southerners, because they'd met some) all ended slavery without a war, meaning figuratively no-one there loved the institution enough to risk dying for it, as they did during the Civil War and at the Alamo.
"Those n*****s should shut up about 'freedoms' and get back to work."
Andrew Johnson, 1865 or Jonah Goldberg, 2021? Either fits.
"He who feels it knows it"
Wouldn't "he who smelt it dealt it" be a more appropriate tagline for a column referencing Goldberg?
“It’s a small prize in place of bigger things.”
Sigh. When we can’t deal with reality, we deal in symbols.
We put up statues to memorialize, and anoint heroes, as a political act… Why really vile Insurrectionist Generals like NB Forrest, or corrupt Segregationist politicians like GA’s Eugene Talmadge or NC’s Zebulon Vance were needed as heroes is a testament to White Bigotry..
Jonah Goldberg writing about Juneteenth in an article entitled "American Passover " is pretty fucked up. That he got paid for it is
An anti-honky white privilege POV here:
Sad as fuck that an extra work holiday is about a good a thing as way too many workers get in these new-serf times.
Slightly more germane: Based on the MLK birthday holiday, this will achieve nothing substantive. I of course defer to anyone who’s made proud or happy by the existence of the holiday.
Apologies for the cynicism dump.
In 1972 Randy Newman released one of the classic American albums - Sail Away. The title song , considered by many to be one of Newman's best, is a drop dead ironic recounting of the sales pitch a slaver may have used to convince Africans to sail away to America, the land of opportunity. The sweet, gentle song packs a real gut punch once you realize where it's coming from.
A year later. On prime time TV, on the new breakout CBS hit, The Sonny and Cher Show, Fifties Pop music icon, the crooner Bobby Darin, offered up his swinging version. Newman famously commented that he didn't think Darin quite understood that it wasn't a happy song. I have a pretty high opinion of Darin's talent and taste and think perhaps he felt that the swinging showbiz version actually upped the irony quotient of the song. Either way - yikes!
https://youtu.be/W4DV1t58pBk
Senator RonJon (R-Serfs) went to Milwaukee’s Juneteenth celebration and was booed, after he even voted for the damn thing, how dare they? Instead of holidaying, those unemployed Milwaukeeans should move north and fill the seasonal jobs in Minoqua, summer destination of hordes of white Chicagoans and home of Wisconsin’s most right-wing Representative, Tom Tiffany. “Enough singing and dancing, get back to work!”
I know there has been grumbling from some on the left that this is a hollow gesture (and of course the right always grumbles when POC get anything), but I think this is an important move. To paraphrase Roy, a small prize on the way to bigger things. I never heard of Juneteenth while in school, as I'm sure is true of most people who didn't grow up in Texas and parts adjacent, but can you think of a more uncynical day of celebration? Forget what was to come in the years ahead, but just appreciate that Juneteenth marks the day when we as a country finally finished freeing its people unjustly held in bondage by their fellow countrymen. Plus, it marks another delicious victory of the Union over the Confederacy.
Again, we know what was to come, but Juneteenth wasn't a holiday created by white people as a token gesture. It was a day celebrated by black folks for years before it hit the national radar. Marking the date as one of both joy and remembrance? It's the least we can do as a nation.
“Million Moe March”?
How did the Three Stooges get swept up in this mishigas?
I heard the head of our local NAACP chapter say that when she was a girl, Juneteenth meant, to her, barbecues in the park. She had no idea what the holiday meant, but it sure was fun. That's as it should be.
Sure, we fought a war to end slavery.
What does it say about us that we needed to do that?
Britain, Spain, France, before us, and Brazil too late (largely, I've heard, to avoid a mass migration of rich American Southerners, because they'd met some) all ended slavery without a war, meaning figuratively no-one there loved the institution enough to risk dying for it, as they did during the Civil War and at the Alamo.