Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
Emancipation Proclamation and Juneteenth President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863. It freed all enslaved people in the Southern States. But Union soldiers took two-and-a-half years to inform Galveston, Texas, of the Proclamation. Enslaved Blacks there finally heard the news of their freedom on June 19, 1865. Juneteenth commemorates this unconscionable delay. Yet, that… Read more.
The New York Times is marking the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first blacks in America with a three-month editorial series called The 1619 Project. The series will document and narrate how enslaved blacks were already building America at Point Comfort before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. It will also… Read more.
Juneteenth and reparations for slavery Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. It stems from slaves in Galveston, Texas, not being informed of their emancipation until June 19, 1865. That was two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863. What about reparations? The US House of Representatives… Read more.
Africans selling Africans Like many people, you might think Europeans captured Africans to enslave them in the so-called New World. This, however, is one of history’s greatest misconceptions. After all, for centuries before Europeans set foot on the continent, Africans had been capturing and enslaving fellow Africans. Moreover, they were aping the customary practices of ancient civilizations… Read more.
For years, CARICOM leaders have been demanding billions in reparations from the British government for slavery. For just as long, I’ve been trying to disabuse them of their legally, politically and morally unsustainable demands. I tried in such commentaries as “The Fatally Flawed Demands for Reparations for Slavery,” February 16, 2007, and “CARICOM Demands for… Read more.
