To the Editor:

It’s Juneteenth as I write this. It is my birthday. I remember lamenting to my father that nothing of any historical importance happened on the date, and he told me about Juneteenth. It was a fascinating event in 1865 when TX finally discovered the 13th Amendment had freed the slaves. When I later bragged to others about the links of June 19, no one had ever heard of it. Things have changed and it is a federal holiday to commemorate the end of slavery. Oddly, it is an affront to some people.

Far-right podcaster Charlie Kirk declared the holiday as a “nationalized race hustle, proclaiming, “Now we have a full day to be able to smear and slander White America,” he proclaimed. He apparently is unaware that Black Americans can celebrate the freedom of their ancestors and not give a darn whether White America approves. Relating historically accurate observations is neither smear nor slander.

Kirk declared that Juneteenth was “a middle finger to the promise of 1776,” and Black Americans “have to choose.” He questions why Black Americans need to have “their own national independence day.” Because their Declaration of Independence did not occur on July 4, 1776, Charlie. They were not free. The last slave freed was a Texan on June 19, 1865.
Kirk lamented, “”We used to have a red, white, and blue independence day on July 4th. Now, we have one based on the melanin content of your skin…These people will not be stopped unless you say ‘no more’” he warned. Appeasement does not work.” Talk about “white privilege.”

I am not familiar with Charlie Kirk. Maybe he’s not very bright, he certainly never took a class in logic and likely not in American history, either. He blames Black Lives Matter on Juneteenth, ignoring that it is a term referring to police brutality against Black communities. He does not know that the system of slavery in America, one of the last countries to discard it, was exactly based upon the melanin content of a person’s skin.

If someone is offended by the celebration of this holiday you might consider picking up a book on what slavery was like to understand the great joy and wish for celebration in learning that you and your people are free. Don’t want to read, treat it as a celebration of my birthday. You will feel much better.

Kelly Scoles,
Fillmore, Ca.