I have mentioned before in previous essays about the type of neighborhood I currently live in. The place where I live here in town has a predominantly Black and Hispanic population--which actually makes a white boy like me a very small minority as far as racial makeup is concerned. Some of the upper class (and even members of my own family) are probably puzzled about why I would choose to reside in a neighborhood like this. I would answer that a major part of my reasons are economic--i.e., I CAN'T AFFORD TO LIVE ANYWHERE ELSE IN TOWN AND GET WHAT I'M GETTING NOW!! But the longer I have lived here, the more I realize that there are also a number of secondary side benefits that apparently some even in our upper economic classes might not be aware of or even feel comfortable in being partakers of.
Such is the case with a very quintessentially Texas holiday celebrated in our Black communities called Juneteenth, usually celebrated around the weekend nearest June 19th. Texas is very unique in the commemoration of the emancipation of African-American slaves. Sure, they celebrate MLK's birthday and other appropriate occasions like the rest of the country. But other states don't necessarily have the type of celebration that Texas does.
How did Juneteenth get started? Well, do you recall what happened when President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War freeing the slaves in the South? There was a Union general who was supposed to deliver the news from Lincoln to the Black population here in Texas. The only problem with this was that Texas seceded from the Union to join the Confederacy. Until the Union eventually won the war, it was kind of hard for the general to deliver that important piece of news. Therefore, the slaves did not get to hear about the Proclamation until two-and-a-half years later. This fact (plus the date when the Proclamation was finally read near Matagorda Bay) is attributed as the reason why in a number of towns here in this state you may find some interesting goings on around that date in our Black communities.
But why would I as a "white boy" find these types of celebrations interesting? Call me carnal, but there's one big reason why a bachelor like myself would check those events out--FREE FOOD!! One great advantage of living in a minority community is this: If a Black church or community organization puts on a shindig, you can almost be guaranteed that food will be involved (and great food at that). You want barbeque? You got it. You want burgers or hot dogs? Eat all you want!! One thing is for sure--if you do not leave an occasion like this without at least feeling like a stuffed pig and if you somehow manage to still leave hungry or thirsty, it's your own fault--and you have no one to blame for it but yourself.
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