Rethinking the Meaning of 'Juneteenth'

Juneteenth was problematic for me. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed on 23 Sept 1863, but the word did not get to Texas until 1865. This ensured nearly two extra years  of slavery for Texas blacks.

Slavery in Texas has a complicated history. Almost more than any other location in the CSA, whites stood against slavery. Despite that nine of every ten Texans came from the South, the great Sam Houston opposed the extension of slavery. Houston became governor of Texas in 1859 running on a pro-union/anti-slavery platform.

At the beginning of the Civil War, the Texas legislature put the vote for secession to the people. It is interesting to note that the vote was for secession, but not for joining the Confederacy. Houston had no faith in the Confederacy and refused to swear allegiance. He was removed from office.

After the firing on Fort Sumpter, the 2700 Federal troops in Texas were made prisoners-of-war. By 1862 there was an unpopular draft. Many union supporters took their families and moved to the north to either fight for the union or evade the draft.  Others hid out and were joined by the numerous deserters from the rebel army.  By the summer of 1863, just before the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, so many Texas soldiers were deserting the army that General Magruder contacted the governor and asked for his direct intervention to stop the number of men who were simply walking away. Denton and Wise counties become home to so many deserters that people loyal to the Confederates became terrified at the influx of pro-union supporters. 

In Cooks Country, 40 white men were hanged for being union sympathizers. 

The last battle of the Civil War was fought on 13 May 1865 at Palmito Beach (near Brownswille.) Men from both races died in this battle, some from the ‘Colored’ regiment.  The undisputed  irony is that these men died for no cause as General Lee had surrendered at Appomattox six weeks earlier.  It was at this battle that many Texans first learned of Lee's capitulation.

The sphere and circumstances of life are devalued during war. Humanity is diminished. Everyone suffers.

I see Juneteenth differently. 

The Juneteenth Holiday is beyond color,  holding a level of symbolism for every person in the State. It represents a day of closure-- a day from which everyone could finally move forward and shape a different future with a focus on peace and prosperity....a new hope.

Cotton, Capitalism and the documentary," LaLee's Kin"

The second principle of Capitalism is to control wages, salaries and benefits. One cannot plunder if labor costs are steadily rising — and plunder is a consequence of capitalism. It’s just who get to do the plundering.

With this in mind, we plunge into the documentary, LaLee’s Kin: The Legacy of Cotton. I watched it thinking: “Man, what great archival footage they have of Mississippi in the 1930s.” 

LaLee’s Kin: The Legacy of Cotton, made by the great Albert Maysles is stunning filmmaking. The first time I watched the picture I came in about 1/3 of the way through. Naively, I thought the film a historical piece about Mississippi sharecropping-- circa 1940s. I dropped my coffee cup on the living room floor upon realizing this was from 2001.

The story follows LaLee Wallace, a 62-year old grandmother living in West Tallahatchie County, one the poorest areas in the U.S.

Sharecropping. Still.

After reconstruction, there was a halcyon period where blacks had some political power. To say it was short-lived, is an understatement. The rise of the KKK and black codes hastened the demise. As the ‘Negro’ of the late 18th century came to realize that political power was D.O.A., they turned to the labor unions. In the South, ‘Negroes’ were excluded from unions because of race. Although, in some instances, brickmasons, plasterers, painters and carpenters founded their own unions.

Booker T. Washington believed ‘skilled labor’ was the future for race. For every one lawyer or doctor, there were hundreds of jobs for skilled, trained blacks.  This, he believed, is where advancement of the race held its best opportunity.
 

In the manufacturing North, advancement was also tough. 'Negroes' learned trade and serve apprenticeships but there were no unions to accept them, no great industrial class willing to employ them and no banks to make business loans to sustain or support them in forming their own enterprises.

In the best Orwellian dialectic, we seek to eradicate a robust discussion of slavery from U.S. History--or, at least dilute it. There is a symbiotic relationships between cotton, slavery and the disenfranchisement of black persons in America. I am not saying there is anything that can be done about today--but, it must be acknowledged.

Mississippi has a dark and desolate past—a placed haunted by the ghosts of senseless murders, lynching and sadness. There are no lynchings and murder in LaLee’s Kin, but there’s a lot of sadness. What happened to LaLee’s ‘American dream?'

How did she end up living a sharecropper’s life in 2001 that was thematically identical to a sharecropper’s life in 1901? Surely, this can’t be what Booker T. Washington had in mind when he advocated for the 'Negro' to be content in his or her position.

LaLee’s Kin – to a U.S. audience—causes people to ask: “Is this really the United States?” Well, it is—for many people. The stardust left by the American dream is sawdust for those who live in poverty.

We can never face the long term impact of our history until we face the impact of slavery and cotton. LaLee Kin is a movie that accomplishes that.

Rear Window -- Even when you're alone, someone is looking.

The loneliness lays a veneer over the murder. 

There is something savage and aching about the loneliness in Rear Window. It’s less about death--although someone dies, but more about life and how inexplicable it often is. Rear Window resonates even more today because technology has made us less contemplative with more access to more stuff but less connection with real persons. Loneliness does not depend on death, yet death follows the lonely, advertising for them to rush headlong to the balcony and toss themselves over. Or, as is Hitchcock’s way, find someone to do it for you.

Loneliness shines light on the cracks in our self-sufficiency. We are not nearly as secure as think. Technology has made us accept mediocre relationships.

The unspoken joke is that only in the movies could a beauty like Lisa Carol Fremont (played by Grace Kelly) throw themselves at a stiff like L.B. Jeffries (James Stewart)  and he ‘can’t make up his mind whether he’s interested in her or not.” I’ve always found this amusing. Another way Hitchcock, toys with us.

There isn’t much humor in Rear Window. It’s dark...filled with anguish. It is about the loneliness and alienation that stalks us. It about how we crave acceptance and companionship, yet see it elusively slip just beyond our grasp.

Yes, there is a murder in Rear Window--but the murder is of less importance than what we learn about the characters—and, ourselves. Rear Window withstands multiple viewings because of the intricate nuances that permeate his work. It stands above “Vertigo” and “North by Northwest” because it unravels the voyeuristic tendencies that lives inside each of us…and, how those tendencies turn us inward, drawing us more into ourselves making us more vulnerable to the effects of alienation. Rear Window is not a cautionary tale—unless, of course, you live in an apartment complex with nosy neighbors and have a penchant for murder.