Educating Equality
A Juneteenth reminder that “Knowledge is Power”
This is both a somber and exciting moment in Black history as we mark the 155th anniversary of the end of slavery in the United States. It is a somber moment as we remember the generations of African-Americans who suffered for 200 years under the brutality and oppression of slavery. It is a somber moment as we consider Jim Crow and the century of systemic racism that deprived the immediate descendants of slaves the equality, justice, and opportunity promised in the Emancipation Proclamation. And it is a somber moment as we mourn the victims of the continuing inequality, injustice, and prejudice within our country today.
But it is also an exciting moment in Black history. It is exciting because we are all part of an endeavor whose righteousness has been borne out again and again by each defeat of racism in America. It is exciting because as much as struggle and oppression have always symbolized this endeavor, it is becoming easier to see a real vision of equality and justice for African-Americans.
We have not yet fully realized Dr. King’s dream, but we have perhaps slipped into that moment between dreaming and waking where anything seems possible…
