Reynolds Rap

Juneteenth should NEVER be celebrated!
Are Black People Stupid?

I was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1953. Then, I moved to Nebraska from 1954 to 1963, and I vividly remember the Civil Rights movement throughout the 1960s. Then, my family moved to Wichita, Kansas from 1963 to 1973; and then to Chicago, until I moved to Dallas, Texas in 1981. I had never, never ever heard about Juneteenth. Oh, I knew slavery "kinda" ended with the end of the Civil War on April 9, 1865 - but I never, never ever heard about Juneteenth.

Here it comes . . .

Again, I moved to Dallas in 1981, worked for nearly two years at a major property/casualty insurance company and still never heard about Juneteenth. Then, in 1983, shortly after being hired as an employee in the Human Resources Department by the City of Dallas, a Black female came to my desk and casually said:

Black female
"Hello, Trip. I know you're kinda new to Dallas,
so what are you doing for Juneteenth?"

Trip
"What?"

Black female
"What are you doing for Juneteenth?"

Trip
"What did you say? June, what day, June 15th?"

Black female
"No, Trip, Juneteenth!"

Trip
"Did you say June 19th?"

Black female
"No, Trip, Juneteenth!!!"

Trip
"What? How do you spell that?
What date is that?"

(Trip looks at the Black female wondering
if she's just mumbling, or if she's
speaking a lousy case of Texas-style Ebonics,
or if she's crazy, or whatever.)

Black female
"Juneteenth, Trip!
Haven't you heard of Juneteenth?"

Trip
"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Black female
"Trip, Black people in Texas did not
find out they had been freed until
over two years after the
Emancipation Proclamation, and
most Black people didn't know
they were 'free' until well after
the Civil War. So, we celebrate
our belated freedom."

Trip
"So, you celebrate the fact
that White people successfully
shit on you, sold you, raped you,
beat you, imprisoned you, and
murdered you for an additional
two-plus years!
That's what you're doing?

Black female
(With a dumb look on her face)
"Well, Trip . . . er . . . a . . . yeah."

Trip
"That's not something to celebrate, hell no.
That's something to be mad about.
I could never, I will NEVER celebrate
such blatantly stupid shit.
What the hell is wrong with you
Black people in Texas??

Black female
"Trip, I don't think you understand."

Trip
"Oh, I understand. I understand my
last name is Reynolds, and that
my great-great grandfather was
a slave on the R.J. Reynolds
tobacco plantation.
I know my great-grandfather saw
his brother sold after the Civil War
and he NEVER saw him again!
That's what I know and understand.
I'm glad I never heard of
this stupid Juneteenth shit, because it
doesn't cause me to celebrate,
it only makes me angry
. . . angry of how stupid
Black people can be.

As the Black female left my desk
I remember imagining Black slaves
in Texas, as ususal, singing and praying
"Thank you, massa, we be free!"

QUESTION: Do Japanese-Americans celebrate the end of their blatantly illegal internment (incarceration, imprisonment, etc.) on March 20, 1946? Is there a "Marchteenth" day to celebrate the end of their incarceration?

RESPONSE: Nope. A "Marchteenth Day Celebration" does not exist. However, unlike Black people, at least Japanese-Americans can celebrate the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which granted $20,000 cash reparations to Japanese Americans who had been interned by the United States government during World War II.

Juneteenth should NEVER be celebrated, and it should NEVER be a holiday.

There's a terrible stereotype of Black people being prone to party, to dance, to laugh and celebrate when other racial or ethnic groups would be upset, pursue legal action, seek revenge, etc. Some "things" are just not worthy of "celebration," such as being "ignorant" of being freed from slavery. Sadly, some Black people prefer to celebrate their "ignorance," and a bunch of White people have joined in to laugh at their stupidity, such as with the Tuskegee syphilis experiment.

The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in Black men was a clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the United States Public Health Service to observe the natural history of untreated syphilis. Most importantly, the Black men in the study were only told they were receiving free health care from the Federal government of the United States. Again, the Black men in the study were only told they were receiving free health care from the Federal government of the United States. Again, the Black men in the study were only told they were receiving free health care from the Federal government of the United States. For forty-(40) years, Black men in the study were only told they were receiving free health care from the Federal government of the United States. You got that?

So, to be consistent with the celebration of "Juneteenth," let's celebrate the ignorance, the stupidity of Black people with the end of the syphilis study on November 16, 1972, with a national holiday, "Novemberteenth."

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I consider "Juneteenth" an insult to my Blackness, and I want no part of it.

I welcome your feedback.

Trip Reynolds
trip.reynolds@yahoo.com

First Amendment to the United States Constitution - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.