JUNETEENTH AND MAGA – A VOLATILE MIX

President Trump’s reelection campaign scheduled his first campaign rally after Covid-19 imposed lockdowns to take place in Tulsa Oklahoma, on Friday, June 19. Date and location were immediately attacked as, at best, a poor choice, or, at worst, a defiantly symbolic signal to Mr. Trump’s shrinking base. Even though the resulting outcry prompted him to change the date by one day, the damage was done. June 19, or Juneteenth, AKA Emancipation Day or Freedom Day, happens to be one of the most significant, longest running holidays for the African American community. Tulsa was the site of the single worst incident of racial violence in American history, resulting in a massacre, now 99 years ago. According to Republicans close to the president, the campaign was aware of the significance of the date when it announced the site. It decided to go ahead anyway, even before the contract with the event venue was finalized. Site and date selection were suspect from the very beginning. Oklahoma is not one of the states the president’s campaign needs to worry about. In 2016, he won the state by 36.39%. The choice may well have been strategically deliberate. It has widely been perceived as a nod to white supremacists, and a slap in the face of the African American community. To quote California Senator Kamala Harris: “This isn’t just a wink to white supremacist – he’s throwing them a welcome home party.” On June 19, 1865, the Emancipation Proclamation, originally issued January 1, 1863, was read to enslaved African Americans in Texas by Union Army General Gordon Granger. Once Union forces took control of Texas, a state still holding 250,000 slaves, the proclamation could finally be enforced. The event was billed as the emancipation of the last remaining African Americans in the Confederacy. Contrary to a widely held believe, President Lincoln’s proclamation had not freed all the slaves. It read: “All persons held as slaves within the rebellious states are and henceforth will be free.” He only covered ten states. The date of the Texas ceremony is filled with racial symbolism and is often considered the second American Independence Day. Given Mr. Trump’s contentious relationship with African Americans, selection of the date itself was perceived as an affront. The site selection of the planned campaign event quickly became highly controversial as well. Beginning on May 31, 1921, mobs of white residents ransacked Tulsa’s Greenwood district, also known as “Black Wall Street.” The attacks came on the ground and from private aircraft. A massacre ensued, which killed an estimated 300 residents, left 10,000 black residents homeless, inflicted $32.5 million (at today’s dollars) in property damage and destroyed more than 35 square blocs. Instigating this race riot was the arrest of a 19 year old black shoe shiner, Dick Rowland, accused of assaulting a 17 year old white elevator operator, Sarah Page. The Tulsa Tribune broke the story with the headline: “Nab Negro for attacking Girl in an Elevator.” A secondary headline: “To Lynch Negro Tonight,” set things in motion. Angry whites congregated outside the courthouse where Rowland was being held. Alarmed by rumors that a lynching had actually taken place, a contingent of blacks went to the courthouse as well, some armed with rifles. Shots were fired and twelve people were killed – ten white and two black. As news of the deaths spread, mob violence exploded. Sarah Page never pressed charges. Dick Rowland, who apparently tripped getting into the elevator, was released and left town. It is difficult not to see this site and date selection as intentional. Campaigns tend to do research and schedule events for a reason, not by happenstance. It has been suggested that the president intends to make a speech about race. Given the emotional baggage attached to this selection, the choice is poor one, especially if the president decides to make a speech reacting to the ongoing protests and unrest following the murder of George Floyd – at a campaign rally of all places. Multiple historians and commentators have complained out loud. CeLillianne Green, an activist, writer, and public speaker, commented: “It’s almost blasphemous to the people of Tulsa and insulting to the notion of freedom for our people, which is what Juneteenth symbolizes. Theo Wierdsma