Tactical Matters

I've got a dilemma. I can't really get too much into detail, but in a nutshell, I'm trying to make a decision on how to proceed from one stage to the next in regard to certain issues. The problem is that the current stage has to be brought to a definitive end point, one way or another. By that I mean I need to figure out how to decisively close out this stage, or find a way to continue the current stage and use that continuation as a means of moving on to the next stage.

Confused yet? Well I am too, but basically there are two ways to approach this thing, and as usual, I'm going back in history to illustrate them.

First is what I'll call the Bayint Naung approach, named after a Burmese king who I had no clue about until a few days ago. I haven't had a lot of time to research the history, but the story goes like this. King Bayint Naung viewed an enemy encampment across the river from his own camp. The enemy outnumbered his own forces 4:1, so he had a decision to make. Take them on in what most likely would be a hopeless cause, or retreat and live to fight another day. Being a 16th century, southeast Asian bad ass, Bayint Naung decided to fight. He took his men across the river and once on the other side, ordered them to burn their boats. Then he gave a rousing action adventure movie type speech (think Braveheart, Independence Day), and proceeded to rout the superior forces of his enemies. The end result was the solidification of the Burmese kingdom and Bayint Naung's greatest victory.

Pretty cool huh?

The second approach is named after the Continental Army. Facing overwhelming odds in the early days of the American Revolution, the leadership of the Continental Army under Gen. George Washington decided to not fight in the officially sanctioned, gentlemanly manner of European armies of the day. You know, nice neat lines of men who marched smartly onto the battlefield and took turns shooting at each other until they were close enough to charge. Instead, they adapted the tactics of the Native Americans; hit and run attacks, tactical retreats, do the unexpected, shoot officers, etc. This approach kept the army intact and essentially achieved victory by not being defeated. The end result was, well, you know the end result. I'm writing from the United States of America after all, so the approach worked.

So there you have it, two distinctly different approaches to basically the same tactical issue of how to deal with overwhelming odds and live to tell about it. What does all of this have to do with me? Well, nothing really. I mean, I'm not facing overwhelming odds in anything. My challenges are not life and death either. I do find historical analogies helpful usually and these two seemed fitting at this time.

Now without my actually having told you anything, what do you think? Are there any analogies or quotations or anything of the sort that you fall back on during times like these? Let me know, I'm interested to hear from you.

Obama's Victory - My First Impressions

Barack Obama is the President-elect of the United States. I still really don't know what to say.

Though I expected the Democrats to win and win big, I've got to say I was unprepared for the wave of emotion that flooded over me when the race was called for Barack Obama. Our little family just grabbed each other, hugged, and held on. Then we said a prayer of thanks to God for the blessing of the day, and of thanks to our ancestors for persevering through it all and making a day like yesterday possible. Another significant date has been added to the panopoly of sacred dates/events in the advancement of African-Americans up from slavery, joining the Emancipation Proclamation/Juneteenth; the culmination of the Civil Rights Movement (in the form of the Voting Rights Act of 1964); and now the election of the first person of African descent to the highest office in the land.

This is not simply a victory for Blacks, but rather an overwhelming victory for the American people. However based simply on my own history and experiences, at first glance I have to look at it from the perspective of being a Black man. I've been conversing with friends, family, and blog buddies since last night, and keep ending up in the same place. Namely, that just a few short years ago when I was coming up, we used to joke (in a serious way) that a Black person would never, ever become the President of the United States. There were just too many obstacles in the path of such a victory.

For example, there just aren't enough Black people in this country to elect a President. We only comprise 12-13% of the population, so on a good day, if all of us voted for the same candidate and could vote in the same state, we'd have trouble electing a governor in California or Texas by ourselves, let alone a President.

Then there's racial prejudice. In the world I grew up in in East Texas, it was quite clear to everybody that a color line existed and that major obstacles faced Blacks trying to advance in almost any endeavor. That same line existed, sometimes in more subtle fashion, pretty much everywhere else I've lived and worked. White folks simply would not vote for a Black candidate if a viable (read White) alternative was available. National level politics? A President? Yeah right, quit dreaming.

Yet here we are in 2008 and not only is an African-American the President-elect, his victory is due in very large measure to the millions of Whites who voted for him. Oh, I'm not leaving out Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and others who formed part of the victory coalition, but the fact that Obama captured such a large percentage of the White vote is amazing and gratifying to me. I am proud that so many folks voted based upon their best interests instead of out of fear or ignorance. In so doing, the impetus has been provided for America to take another great leap ahead as a country.

In many ways this election validates our hopes in regard to America's future. I know when I've discussed issues of history and race with teenagers, a lot of times it's as if they have no idea what you're talking about, and their almost universal refrain is that "that was then and this is now. Things have changed." Apparently they are right. Our kids all get along until they're taught not to, and the youth vote in this election proved that beyond a doubt.

Now I haven't buried my head in the sand to the point where I think that the race issue in this country has finally been dealt with definitively. Maybe it never will be. Like Obama, pretty much all of us (especially Blacks and Whites) are mixed-race if you go back far enough and uncover some of the forgotten leaves in our family trees. We're from the same families in other words, and the problem is that historically one side of the family tree reaped the majority of the inheritance. That reality and other deep rooted issues can't be washed away based on the results of a single election.

But Barack Obama's candidacy exposed an essential truth that I hope is built upon in the coming years. That truth is that we Americans have a lot more in common than different. Our interests are the same. A lot of us even have the same names, and common ancestors. We all want to be able to provide for our families, for our kids to get a good education, and to be afforded the opportunity to live healthy and in security. The current administration and its policies has shown us all that we're in the same boat. High gas prices, unending wars, and organized theft from the national treasury affects us all, and we'll be paying the price for two G.W. Bush terms for years to come. Last night's victory is a great start towards that recovery, and a spingboard for a better future.

I sure hope so anyway, and I really wish some of those people who meant the most to me in my life could have lived to see it.

163 Years Ago Today - Commemorating Juneteenth

Happy Juneteenth! For those who don't know, Juneteenth commemorates the June 19, 1865 date that slaves in Galveston, Texas were informed of the Emancipation Proclamation by Union General Gordon Granger, who read these words from Gen. Order No. 3:

The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.

In other words, two years after its issuance, the slaves of Texas learned of their freedom. That's worth celebrating, especially if you're a descendant of those slaves.

I had originally planned to do more of a scholarly type post in commemoration of Juneteenth, but time precludes me from doing so at this exact moment. If that's more your thing, you can read my entry from last year; Know Your History, (And Their's Too). Instead, here's a few thoughts on Juneteenth in general, and it's place in our history.

I have a couple of friends who always ask me, "Why should we celebrate people being late?" The implication being that because it took two years for the news to reach Texas, the slaves themselves were somehow negligent for not knowing that they were free. I always answer that "hey, there was a war going on, and they weren't exactly living in the internet age of instant communications." Besides, the Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, itself didn't free many slaves due to the fact that it originally applied only to those states in a state of rebellion against the Union, i.e. those not under Union control. It did however lay the legal foundation for slavery's abolition after the arrival of the Union army in those areas.

Juneteenth is a holiday here in Texas, and is celebrated unofficially all around the country. It's the only acknowledgment on the holiday schedule that recognizes this pivotal event in our history. Yet it's celebrated primarily by Blacks. I understand that, we were the direct beneficiaries of the Proclamation's purpose, but I've always wondered why the Emancipation Proclamation, is not celebrated universally in this country. I believe it's issuance should strike a chord with all Americans, since it marks the beginning of this country's recognizance that "all men are created equal," and set the country on a path towards achieving that goal. True freedom in other words.

This quest for true freedom and equality by Blacks in this country has shaped the character of this nation more than anything else, positively and negatively, in my opinion. As such, I think it should be recognized as an official U.S. holiday.

I grew up in East Texas, where Juneteenth was a pretty big deal. I also lived in Denver for a while, which didn't have a large Black population at all. Yet Denver annually stages one of the biggest Juneteenth celebrations in the U.S. , founded by Texans who had moved to Colorado. There are many other such celebrations around the country as well, particularly here in the Houston/Galveston metro area, Juneteenth's epicenter.

Do you celebrate Juneteenth? If so, how? I'll be updating this post a little later with Juneteenth postings from around the web, and if you see any good ones or have one up yourself, please leave a link in the comments.

Happy Juneteenth y'all.

UPDATED: Here are links to some other posts around the Afrosphere so far.

http://dallassouthblog.com/2008/06/17/why-part-two-why-i-celebrate-juneteenth/
http://eddiegriffinbasg.blogspot.com/2008/06/why-i-remember-juneteenth.html
http://dowdellresearch.blogspot.com/2008/06/juneteenth-celebration-emancipation.html
http://purplezoe.blogspot.com/2008/06/remember-juneteenth.html
http://whattamisaid.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-black-history-what-was-william.html
http://www.blackperspective.net/index.php/juneteenth-today-is-independence-day/
http://thejosevilson.com/blog/
http://electronicvillage.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday Malcolm

Villager has an excellent post up commemorating what would have been the 83rd Birthday of Malcolm X yesterday. He notes the effect that reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X had on him by saying

I imagine that most Blackmen from my era recall reading this very thick book. Every Blackman could empathize with a brother that evolved from Malcolm Little to Detroit Red to Malcolm X to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. Each of us hoped that we would be transformed as well in our lives.

I agree Villager, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, along with Roots were critical towards my awareness of who I am. I'm sure the same can be said for millions more. Amazing that both books were written or co-written by Alex Haley.

It's also amazing to me that I'm lived (slightly, so far) longer than Malcolm X or Martin Luther King. I don't feel like my contribution to society is done, so I can only imagine what these two would have accomplished had they not been taken away from us so soon.

Please head over to the Electronic Village and check out this post, complete with audio clips of some of Malcolm's more famous speeches, and a scene from the 1992 movie. It'll be time well spent, especially if the only thing you know about Malcolm is the quote, "By any means necessary."

The 'Wright" Stuff

Oh my, the Jeremiah Wright "Controversy." Again.

Did it really take all of these weeks for a media outlet to actually find a copy of the sermons that the "inflammatory" sound bites were taking from? I mean, they were for sale on the church's website, right? So with that in mind, what prevented CNN, MSNBC, FOX, CNBC; the print media in it's entirety, and every other organization claiming journalistic integrity from simply purchasing a copy and listening to the sermons in their entirety? Heck, I'm sure that Trinity UCC would have given them copies if they had asked. They didn't, and what we've been left with during the past few weeks is a feeding frenzy based on the agenda of the media organization that all of the others claim to be the antithesis of, Fox News.

Because if anyone would have simply bought a tape and listened to any of those sermons in context, this "controversy" would never have seen the light of day. As a matter of fact, I'm still waiting on somebody, anybody, to show me what Pastor Wright said that was so wrong. Speculative, maybe, but I'm talking flat out wrong. Especially when viewed in the context of the overall sermons, and when they were given.

The reality is that Pastor Wright, like most Black Americans I daresay, is more patriotic than most of your flag-waving, U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A., chanting "average Joe's." Why? Because he, and we, believe in the dream of what America can and should be.

That dream is embodied in many (not all) of the words in the documents that founded this nation, and the lofty ideals that have been hoisted aloft through the centuries about freedom, democracy, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We know that America has not lived up to her ideals in relation to many of the people who live(d) here, and plenty more who don't. We accept the reality that, yes, America does have blood on it's hands and lots of it. That while our country has been a force for good in the world, it's also been on the opposing team more than once. We know that politics make for strange bedfellows, and that some of the most brutal dictatorships in the world have been touted as free and democratic by our government due to the politics of that particular day and time.

We also know what it took to get where we are now in this society, what we had to go through, and what got us here. Hint: It had a whole lot to do with the Black church, which has served as a source of strength and organization in the Black community, while simultaneously serving as the conscience of the nation for Americans as a whole. It was the Black church that held our families and communities together through slavery, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow, and guided us and America through the Civil Rights Movement. It is that same Black church which will most likely lead our communities through the scourge of drugs and violence currently plaguing them.

As I've said before, Americans have a problem with history, but to see a firestorm of this sort erupt over the words of a Black preacher who's resume is infinitely more impressive than any of those attacking him, and whose patriotism is more verifiable and tangible than those questioning him, really is an insult to our collective intelligence. To use this "controversy" as an attack on the Black church as a whole is playing with fire. After all, there's only so much nonsense that one can deal with.

One of these days, the American people are going to wake up and realize that the mass media is, for the most part not journalism at all, but simply acting. Depending on the day your favorite anchor may be the protagonist or antagonist based upon the particular "issue." The Rev. Wright controversy demonstrates this to perfection.

Thank goodness Bill Moyers and PBS broke from the mold and, for a brief moment, showed us how this journalism stuff is supposed to work. However with Rev. Wright's appearances at the National Press Club and the NAACP, I'm sure the respite will be brief.

Houston Oral History Project

Now this is cool. I plan to share this with as many Houstonians as I can. Please help me get the word out so we can ensure that blacks are properly represented and acknowledged for their contributions. From the Chronicle:

Did you help build the Galleria or Astrodome? Did you work as a black policeman during the Jim Crow era? Are you an oilman with thrilling stories from the boom and the bust? Houston's Oral History Project is looking for local residents to share their personal tales about Houston.

...the historians want to find Houstonians from all walks of life who are not necessarily famous.

...Organizers are interested in the following:

•black police officers from Jim Crow era
•Bankers/drillers from the boom and bust of the 1970s and the 1980s
•Civil rights lawyers from the 1950s
•Chinese-American community members
•Early city and county environmental officials
•Early Mexican-American activists
•Early TSU Law School students
•Long-time firefighters
•People involved in the planning and construction of the Astrodome, Downtown, Galleria, Gulf Freeway, NASA, parks (Hermann, Memorial, Hershey, Ship Channel.
•Refinery workers/union organizers
•Reverends and pastors who housed Katrina refugees.
•Ronald McDonald House associates
•Vietnamese-American community members

If you fit any of these descriptions, here's the information you need. To participate, an appointment is encouraged. Call Judith Hiott at 832-393-1476 or write her at judith.hiott@cityofhouston.net. Interview screenings are scheduled for:

• Saturday: 11a.m.-4p.m., Johnson Branch Library

• April 12: 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Flores Branch Library

• April 19: 11-4 p.m., Henington-Alief Regional Branch Library

• April 26: 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Hillendahl Branch Library

40 Years Ago Today - MLK's Legacy

40 years ago today Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, so as you can imagine, the retrospectives of his life and legacy are out in full force. Dr. King is life's work is worthy of the adulation.

I was all prepared to write a retrospective myself, but changed my mind for two reasons. First, I ran out of time. There simply are not enough hours in the day anymore. Second, there are so many voices in the Afrosphere that are much more eloquent and powerful than my own that I've decided to highlight some of them here.


Eddie Griffin, in a very powerful post, provides a perspective of the times from one who lived through it. He also takes to task some of the revisionist history surrounding Dr. King.

Strange, how we all loved Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. after the fact of his death, some 40 years ago, this April 4th. Even those who hated him in life now show a kind of post-mortem reverence, like “Thank God, he’s dead.” What he stood for, what he fought for, and what he died for, was a threat to the American way of life. No one was ready for black people to be equal. Even now, there are diehards standing at the gate, obstructing the way to a truly gregarious society. Martin Luther King, Jr. was only in his mid-20s when he catapulted onto the national stage. To the world, he was the embodiment of a new black uprising challenging America’s apartheid system of segregation. He was the media baby for the Civil Rights Movement.

Over at Slant Truth 2.0, the theme is somewhat similar, with a twist.

I’d like to take the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s death (I feel odd writing “anniversary.” The slight connotation of celebration is hard for me to shake, yet I can think of no better word right now.) to repost the Ten OTHER Things Martin Luther King Said video. In the wake of the shameful support of the Dunbar Village rapists by the West Palm Beach NAACP, In the wake of this shameful Democratic Presidential nomination, I feel we are in a crisis. In looking back, in memory, there is strength.

As usual, The Black Report breaks it all the way down for us with their post, Dr. King's Legacy Four Decades After His Death In Memphis; The essay was penned by Dr. Robert Bullard

a leader of the anti-environmental racism movement that has become integral to progressive Black movement politics. The toxic results of exploitative race relations can now be measured on graphs of relative neighborhood health, community well-being, and purity of local resources. In all categories, Blacks are clustered on the dangerous, polluted side of the tracks. Dr. King's legacy of struggle did not end with the defeat of Jim Crow, but expanded to tackle the unnatural environment that results when powerful men consider the entire planet to be their private property.

And finally, if you're like me and haven't had a chance to visit the King Museum, or the King Papers Exhibit in person, you can catch a quick video glimpse of both, courtesy of My Urban Report.

I haven't had time to check everybody's site yet, but that's enough to get you started. Let me know if you find other worthy additions by leaving a comment, and thanks to everyone who put up something commemorating this day.

For The Good Of The Country, Hillary, Concede

Reality check. Hillary Clinton has virtually no chance to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Barack Obama has garnered more votes, delegates, and states won during the campaign process, and barring sleight of hand tricks or back room maneuvering at the convention, Hillary Clinton cannot win.

Having no shot, the Clinton's are running a scorched earth campaign. This so-called "kitchen sink" strategy has taken this campaign into the gutter and racialized it. Additionally, statements from Hillary and Bill Clinton have all but endorsed John McCain's candidacy and will not help Democrats win the general election in the fall. In fact, they serve the exact opposite purpose. The Clinton campaign has helped transform a sure victory for Democrats and progressive causes into a shaky proposition at best.

In the process, the historic unity on display earlier in the campaign among people of different races, genders, ages, economic status, and every other political measuring stick, is on the verge of being shattered solely to satisfy her personal ambition. As a result Black voters, historically the most reliable voting constituency in the Democratic Party, have been alienated to the point where there is open talk of abandoning the Democrats altogether.

For these reasons and many more There... Already is supporting the call for Hillary Rodham Clinton to "Concede Now" so that the vital work of bringing the party back together to compete in the general election can get underway.

If you agree, please sign the petition. If you've already signed, pass it on.

Update: Other steps you can take include:

1. Did you sign the petition, yet? (smile)
2. Call the Democratic National Committee on (202) 863-8000 to express your opinion.
3. Contact the Democratic National Committee with a link to the petition to let them know your position on this matter.
4. Contact superdelegates that have not committed
5. Contact Hillary Clinton directly with a request for her to concede the nomination in the interests of party unity and our nation's future.

Thanks to Villager and Yobachi

The Speech (or That Conversation on Race You've Been Waiting For )

Barack Obama delivers one of the greatest speeches I've ever heard. This one speech provides an opening for the American people to address the issues of our past and present in a constructive manner which can help us all move forward as a country.

No matter what happens in the election from this point, I am so proud of Barack Obama for saying what absolutely needed to be said in such a way that nobody can claim they don't understand.

Hyperbole? Just Listen.

Upon Further Thought

After mulling over the Dr. Jeremiah Wright story for the past few days, I've reached a conclusion that I already knew; America has a history problem. More specifically, Americans have a major problem with their own history. Blacks and Whites in this country come from different experiential backgrounds, and nothing anyone says or does can change that now. I'm sure it's confusing to our friends and neighbors from Asia, Latin America, Europe, and yes, even Africa, that almost everything in this country is viewed through a Black/White filter, especially when Blacks are only around 13% of the total population.

Well, like I said, it's a unique relationship and those Americans who come from other areas of the world need to recognize this for what it is; American History. Not the basically all White version of history that dominates our public and private school curriculum with only an oh so brief mention, usually in February, that Blacks have been here all along too. This February focus usually doesn't stray too far from the very significant contributions of MLK, Harriet Tubman, George Washington Carver, and a select few others.

But Black history in America is American history, and this country does all of its students a disservice by not teaching our history in a more complete way. The end result is a nation that is shocked, shocked, I tell you, that a Black minister would have the nerve to refer to America as anything other than the culmination of human civilization on Earth, and/or make reference to the racial realities that are an integral part of this country's history. Or as Shawn Williams over at dallassouthblog so eloquently put it:

What is most shameful about this entire episode with Dr. Wright and Barack Obama is that it shows how little America knows about and how much less America cares about the black church. A black preacher uttering words from the pulpit regarding America’s racist past and present is neither novel or unique.

...Dr. Wright talked about an America where white men controlled the resources and controlled the access to wealth in this country. What’s so radical about that? If it’s a lie please tell me.

Please, tell me too. Ignoring the reality of our surroundings doesn't make them go away. It also doesn't mean the country needs to dwell on the past, but the past damn sure needs to be acknowledged. That's going to take awhile, so in the meantime, prepare for even more shocking revelations about Black people as this history making campaign continues.

And for you Democrats out there, remember that political allegiance is a two-way street. In other words, Blacks haven't always voted for Democrats, and the last major shift happened in the political equivalent of the blink of an eye. Running negative, race-based campaigns against your most loyal constituency helps that to happen.

Do You Know Her?

Her name was Sara Baartman.

I'll Be Reading This

The slaves, he said, "never gave up. They never accepted the reality of slavery. So this is not a book about victimhood. "Without their resistance, the middle-class abolitionist movement in England and New England wouldn't have gotten anywhere. That's a very important thing to remember."

With so much revisionist history underway regarding American slavery, it's good to see that the reality hasn't escaped everyone. More excerpts are below, but check out the entire review.

The Thinkers: Pitt Prof's new book an entree to excesses of slave trade

In many ways, Marcus Rediker believes, the African slave trade actually created the black and white races. Before the slave trade to North America took hold strongly in the 1700s, the University of Pittsburgh history professor said, most Africans thought of themselves as members of different tribes and language groups.

Slave rebellions on board the ships were extremely common, and the way that the ships were designed acknowledged that fact. The frequency of slave uprisings is a fairly recent discovery in historical research, Dr. Rediker said, and helps explain two common features on slave ships -- the netting that surrounded the deck, and the "barricado" -- a wooden wall that was built midway along the top deck. The netting was there to prevent slaves from leaping overboard, although many of them still managed to do so. The barricado gave the crew protection if the slaves started to rebel, and had holes in it through which they could fire muskets at the insurgents. The protective measures proved that "even though the slaves were in dire circumstances, they never gave up. They kept fighting even though there was no real chance of winning. In many cases, even if they managed to rise up and kill the crew, they couldn't sail the ships."

Slave resistance took other forms, too.

The refusal to eat was so common, he wrote, that "the Atlantic slave trade was, in many senses, a 400-year hunger strike" In other cases, he said, "the goal was not to capture the ship but to commit mass suicide to get off that ship." One reason slaves were willing to throw themselves overboard, even when many could not swim, was the traditional West African religious belief that when they died, they would be transported back to their homeland to live in an ideal Africa. It was called "going home to Guinea," the common term for the African coast.

"Many captains developed specific practices of terror to try to overcome that belief," Dr. Rediker said. "One captain said, 'If they think they're going home to Guinea, I want to make sure they understand they're not going home in the bodies they inhabited.' "

That captain would pick out a victim, he said, "and sever the limbs of the person, and he would throw those limbs into the areas where the people who were still in chains were forced to live, and would use the dismemberment of corpses as terror to control those who were still on board the ship."

In other cases, captains used a tactic that relied on one of the slave ship's constant companions -- sharks. He tied a rope under her armpits and lowered her into the water, Goldsmith wrote, "and when the poor creature was thus plunged in, and about halfway down, she was heard to give a terrible shriek, which at first was ascribed to her fears of drowning; but soon after, the water appearing red all around her, she was drawn up, and it was found that a shark, which had followed the ship, had bit her off from the middle."

Despite such brutal tactics, slave rebellions never died off, and that is a major reason why the abolition movement against the slave trade finally succeeded 200 years ago, in 1807 in Great Britain and a year later in the United States.

Juneteenth, or Know Your History (And Their's Too)

It's Juneteenth again; time to celebrate the culmination of the centuries long struggle our people underwent against the slaveholding system that the American nation was pretty much built upon.

Taking inspiration from some of the brilliant writing I've been reading lately in the Afrospear/Afrosphere, and noting the fact that my ancestors here in Texas were the last group of American slaves to hear of the Emancipation Proclamation, I've taken the liberty to draft this abrogated history of my home state and it's pivotal role in OUR history.

Now, I'm a native Texan. What that means is that I was born in the state and have lived here for a good portion of my life. It also means that I attended the public schools here, which means that I am well versed in at least what is called Texas history. You've all probably heard some of it: Rugged pioneers immigrated in to claim free land offered by the Mexican government (which possessed Texas at the time). Said Mexican government begins to infringe on the rights of the aforementioned settlers, who began a fight for independence. That fight led to the establishment of Texas as an independent nation in April 1836, and later joining the United States in 1845.

The two major battles that illustrate the Texas War of Independence took place at the Alamo in San Antonio, and San Jacinto, near present-day Houston. The Texians (as they called themselves) were defeated at the Alamo, although you would never be able to tell from the historical embossments and myriad theatrical retellings of that 13-day siege that ended up with everyone inside dead. The second battle was at San Jacinto a few days later, where the main Texian army under Gen. Sam Houston caught the Mexican Army by surprise and routed them in a matter of minutes, leading to Texas independence. Legend has it that the presence of a Black woman in the tent of the Mexican Army commander (and President) Gen. Santa Anna, the so-called "Yellow Rose of Texas," was a major reason why the Mexican Army was not exactly on high alert at the time of Houston's attack. The Yellow Rose was one Emily West, and you can read more about her here.

Ms. West's role notwithstanding, the Battle of San Jacinto signified a major shift in the balance of power on the North American continent. Within 15 years, the United States had taken possession of nearly half of all Mexican territory. This was accomplished after a devastating war during which the United States invaded to secure Texas' right to be annexed, and to establish its southern border at the Rio Grande River. The resulting peace treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded all Mexican claims to Texas, New Mexico, and California.

Think about that for a minute. Before the Mexican-American War, Mexico and the United States were about the same size, and had approximately the same number of people. Afterwards, well, you know the rest. Here's a visual.



The great untold truth in regard to Texas independence, and later annexation, is the role of slavery. In fact, slavery had been abolished by most of the former Spanish colonies upon independence, and in Mexico specifically by 1829. After multiple legislative sessions focusing on the slavery question, The Mexican Congress issued a decree on July 13, 1824 that;

...left no room for doubt as to the attitude of that body towards at least one phase of the slavery question. It prohibited the slave trade, domestic and foreign, in the most positive terms. Infractions of the law were to be punished with the greatest severity: any vessel engaged in this traffic, which brought slaves to Mexico, was to be confiscated with its cargo; and the owner, purchaser, captain, master and pilot were to be condemned to a year's imprisonment. Slaves brought into the country by such trade recovered their freedom the moment they touched Mexican soil.

The decree made no provisions for the removal of slaves already in bondage, and allowed an extension of penalties for six months in favor of those colonists who might wish to land slaves in the recently created province of Itsmo (Texas and Coahuila). These slavery debates in the Mexican Congress, as well as the lobbying efforts of Americans settling the Mexican territory of Texas are a fascinating study in themselves. However, despite it's intent with the decree of 1822, the Mexican government;

...while all buoyant with the hopes born of the Revolution and moved by theories of the equality and brotherhood of man, authorized the introduction of negro slavery into one of its fairest provinces, while it deluded itself with the belief that it was providing for the almost immediate extermination of the abhorred institution.

Most of the settlers who came to Texas were from slaveholding southern states. These people were not interested in settling a new territory unless provisions were made for their slaves as well, and were willing to fight to maintain that right. This led to a prolonged discourse within the Mexican Congress that persisted through multiple changes of government, coups, and finally, revolution. I could go on, but the end result dramatically altered the balance of power on the North American continent, and helped to solidify the institution of slavery in Texas until Union Gordon Granger landed at Galveston in 1865 with news of the two-year old Emancipation Proclamation and our right to henceforth and forever annually barbecue chicken and ribs in commemoration.

Happy Juneteenth Y'all!