Community Celebrates, honors Juneteenth
By Stephanie Lambert
Posted 6/21/07 in the Capital Outlook, a Tallahassee, FL, community newspaper.
 “I pour libations for Frederick Douglass, the great
helper and leader for emancipating our people to freedom,” said Ha’nah Manu-El during a Juneteenth celebration on Sunday.
More than 25 people gathered at the site of the old jail on Gaines and Meridian Streets in Tallahassee to commemorate the holiday.
“The purpose of today’s event was to make sure the atrocities that happened between 1880 and 1960 when 3,000 blacks were lynched in the United States are not forgotten. We want to make sure those atrocities won’t happen again,” Manu-El said. “I am grateful for the African-Nubian ancestors that have been acknowledged here today.”
Juneteenth, which is one of the oldest known celebrations that commemorates slavery’s end in the United States, was to recognize “all of the people who were hurt by the African slave trade
Manu-El pours libations for her ancestors during and by the lynchings of African Americans.”
Sunday's Juneteenth celebration
“(With the event), we wanted to help people along the path of healing the legacy of slavery - the guilt, the blame, the shame the mistrust, the anger,” said Louise Ritchie, an organizer of the event. “Every person in this country is affected by this.”
The Buddhist Peace Fellowship of Tallahassee, an international social justice organization, invited people of all races and spiritual beliefs to join in the ceremony. According to a news release, the event was designed to honor the memories of those who lost their lives at the site, to bear witness to the suffering caused by such hatred and ignorance, and help heal the shame, blame, and guilt that affect Tallahassee residents of all races due to slavery and its aftermath.
Ritchie said she was really appreciative that so many people came to support, particularly white people.
“I think it’s easier for them to ignore how terrible slavery was and how much it is still hurting so many people in America, including white people,” Ritchie said. “I think so many of us feel guilt when something like this is brought up, that it is easier for them to ignore it or forget or push it to the back of their minds. They don’t have to deal with it directly every day, as people do who are black. So I am really touched so many people came.”
The event was held in downtown Tallahassee near a large oak tree, which was the site of lynchings in Tallahassee in the 1930s. According to a Juneteenth release, the last Tallahassee lynching was in 1937 when two black men were taken from the jail and hung by a mob of white men, none of whom was ever prosecuted.
“I see this tree as a symbol of healing and forgiveness,” said Judy Langston, a guest at the event. “I saw this event as an opportunity of racial forgiveness with the Native Americans and the African Americans. We have racism that is still here and it does need to be healed.”
Maureen ‘Mo’ Malvern, an organizer of the event, said she was “very moved” by the event and hopes it is “bigger and more diverse” next year.
"I hope we can do it every year with more people,” she said. “I also want a plaque to show the history of the tree.”
During possibly one of the more emotional times of the ceremony, participants were asked to shout out names of African Americans who were no longer living, as Manu-El poured libation on the large oak tree.
“I need to step up for those who didn’t have a voice,” said a tearful Manu-El during the ceremony. “I need to be their voice. I need to be the voice of the drug dealers, I need to be the voice of the crack addicts.”
The event, which included a
nondenominational walking “meditation of compassion,” was scheduled for one hour, but ended up lasting longer than programmed.
“Some people were saying (the ceremony) was taking too long,” Manu-El said. “But what about our ancestors that worked in the cotton field. And I remembered that they worked from sunup to sundown, day in and day out, year after year after year.
She continued, “It’s like I could feel them in the cotton field being mistreated, derogated and abused for no reason other than human bondage.”
For more information about Tallahassee BPF, click here.
--------------------
"Too much hypocracy
In this old southern town for me
Way back in 1619 began
This tragic story
Thrown into slavery the crime
Was the color of skin
Never to see the light of the past again
Chorus:
I wanna go where the mountains are high enough to echo my song
I wanna go where the rivers run deep enough to drown my shame
I wanna go where the stars shine bright enough to show me the way
And I wanna go where the wind calls my name
The wind is calling India India India
It's a typical Savannah day
So I take my guitar to the park and I play
Sitting up under the live oak tree
The strangest feeling came over me
Is this the tree where my brother was hung?
Is this the ground where his body was burned?
God gave to me the gift of song
So I dedicate this one
Chorus
Superiority, who have you better than me
Wasting precious time on racist mentality
This is only the beginning
The flesh we'll be pushing up daisies in the end
Cause spirit knows no color
Either you're a hater or a lover
Chorus "
----
lyrics from India's Song by India Arie
|
