Happy Juneteenth

Our first Juneteenth Celebration

Happy Juneteenth everyone!!!!

This weekend my husband, children and I drove to Bracketteville, TX to celebrate Juneteenth as a family. I'm sharing this here because I really, really want to remember it. Although I've lived in Texas for over 10 years and my husband grew up here, we’ve never gone to any Juneteenth celebrations. We’ve acknowledged it and said  “Happy Juneteenth” to each other and the children, we’ve never attended any special events. Until this year…

And just like my collard green plants, now that I've started growing them, I will never stop. Now that we’ve started celebrating Juneteenth, we’ll continue to do so every year. The event was wonderful and a beautiful way to connect to each other and our heritage.

So how did we make it out to Bracketteville, TX for Juneteenth? Unbeknownst to many, there is a lot of Black History in Far West, Texas.  If you didn't know, I'm really interested in history and heritage and my friend Michelle is too. Although Michelle is not Black, we often discuss local black history amongst other things. Michelle is good friends with a woman named Windy from Bracketteville. Windy is Black and traces her roots to the Black Seminole Indians who helped to settle the West along side / with / or as part of the Famous Buffalo soldiers.  Windy, I believe, met Michelle while studying the Black Seminole Indians in the tiny town we currently live in.

After a random conversation probably about motherhood, but maybe about local Black history, Michelle connected Windy and I on social media.

I eventually called Windy and we talked for an easy half hour. At the end of our conversation, Windy invited us out to celebrate Juneteenth with her family and community. I spoke to my husband, and we were good to go.

Now that we had a destination, I set out to start educating the children (and myself) on Juneteenth. We borrowed books from the library and made a few purchases online. Juneteenth by Van G Garrett arrived the Friday afternoon and we read it before we got on the road on Friday night. Just in time! It really is a lovely book that helped prepare us for the day. I can’t recommend that book enough.

So what was Juneteenth in Brackettville like? It was powerful, but it wasn’t powerful in a way that would be depicted on TV. So let me explain.

The day started out with a small parade scheduled at 10 am led by the sheriff. Every parade that I've ever attended in Texas is led by the Sheriff lol. I found out later that the Parade was delayed because there was a high speed chase through town that held the Sheriff up. Thus, the parade started at about 10:15am to the Sheriff’s lights and horn.

There were somewhere between 10 and 12 cars in the parade. Windy and another family member held the first banner. A couple in a convertible tossed candy out of the window for the kids to enjoy and a few other organizations were present. The parade was pretty quiet with the exception of the occasional bleep of the Sherrif’s horn and the smiles, waves and friendly hello’s being exchanged.

So what did attending Juneteenth in Brackettville FEEL like? It felt like we were attending a Black family reunion. As the parade was coming to an end, I heard a loud laugh from across the street and someone saying, “ Well you know, Black don't crack!”  My husband looked at each other and laughed. This is something we’d NEVER hear said in our tiny West Texas town. Well, not unless one of us said it lol. We felt like we were home.

Outside of Windy, who I'd never met in person, we didn't know anyone, but it didn't matter.  Once we parked and headed towards the picnic tables outside, Windy’s family came over to introduce themselves. There were aunties, uncles and cousins everywhere. The smell of barbeque filled the air and Blackstreet bumped on the radio. One R & B hit after another played as I watched the children explore the bouncy house and a small play ground for the children.

Juneteenth in Bracketteville felt oddly familiar. It felt like home. It felt like Howard University. It felt like The Bronx. Except that we were in rural Texas under a canopy of trees. It was also very humid and opressively hot. More so than any other place that I've visited in Texas, it felt like the South.

Inside the George Washington Carver School, there was a Juneteeth program that discussed the origins, history, importance of the day. The Negro National Anthem was sung. The elders and a historian spoke. Afterwards there was a BBQ plate sale and crafts and fun for the children.

I smiled as I watched my husband help to set up the tables for the fellowship lunch with the other men. And although I was very tired and busy attempting to keep order with 3 equally tired children, I reveled in the din of the large space and the conversations I overheard. Over plates of brisket, chicken, sausage, Mexican rice, pinto beans and potato salad folks laughed, smiled and connected.

What really impressed me the most about the Juneteenth celebration in Bracketteville was that it seems to be one small group (perhaps one family) that seems to be holding space for Juneteenth and maintaining the history of the Black Seminole Indians in the area. There was this family (Windy’s family) and the community that supported them.

This is important. Over I've past 24 hours I've been mulling this over…

Bracketteville’s black population is 1% of the total population. According to Wikipedia, that's about 24 people. The organizers and the leaders of the event were all Black, their extended family that came back to celebrate were mostly Black, but the support of the community was undeniable and pretty ethnically diverse.

When I got a moment to talk sit down and talk to Windy, I mentioned this to her. She nodded between bites and said they couldn’t do it without the support of the greater community. The majority of whom are of Mexican descent ( 77 %), White and everything in between.

I think back to events that led up to the Emancipation Proclamation and the First Juneteenth, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement…. I think of Windy and her family and their sacrifice that they make annually to keep this tradition alive. I think of the community members that show up and walk along side them in the parade and purchase plates and lend a hand. I think of the stories that were told on Saturday and the seeds that were planted in our minds and in our children’s mind.

Truth. Faith. Tradition. Heritage. Courage. Sacrifice. Community.

The annual celebration of Juneteenth ensures that the story of a very important chapter of our collective history will continue to live on. Dark as that history may be…. Where as books can be burned and banned, memories, both negative and positive are stored forever. Oral tradition, experiential learning are sacred learning tools. They preserve a culture and because of people like Windy, her family and her community, the truth lives on and will be passed down to the next generation. That is powerful work. Perhaps some of the most powerful work.

Lest we forget.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead

Happy Juneteenth! What a blessed event to celebrate!