JUNETEENTH 2026

 Pino closings Monday. Maybe we will watch. Maybe not. 

Our 2021 Juneteenth post admitted our ignorance. We knew little or nothing about the day and its meaning.  We become stronger when we own our failings. 

We did not know and do not know what it means to be the descendants of slaves.  What it means to be immediately judged when you walk into a room because of the color of your skin instead of the content of your character. 

But we learned about what people who would become our brothers and sisters others felt and experienced. 

And you know what we decided? That diversity, equity, and inclusion is a good idea, not a bad one. That when President Lincoln formed a cabinet of a "team of rivals" he was endorsing the idea that accepting and respecting our differences makes us stronger.  Listening to others and honoring their lives is a good thing, not a bad thing. 

That when President John Kennedy said during his commencement address to the American University in Washington DC in 1963 that "Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we all are mortal" he was eloquently explaining that our humanness envelopes our petty differences. 

There are many holidays we do not partake in. Christmas. Ramadan. St. Crispins Day. The list goes on and on. But we respect those who do celebrate those days. We have been to midnight mass, invited by friends. We have broken bread on El ad-Fitr with our Muslim brothers and sisters, and of course we read Henry V on October 25 for the poetic summary of the closeness of those sharing an ideal worth dying for. 

So to our brothers and sisters who celebrate June 19 with friends and family and gather to remember, and to enjoy traditional dishes, we thank you for including us in your celebrations and allowing our journey from ignorance to understanding to continue. 

And (being Rumpole) we could not resist in leaving you with these words spoken before the Battle of Agincourt: 

Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.

This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember’d;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:

And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day. 

SAY HEY

 On this Juneteenth day, let's take a break from the acrimony and accusations.  We were planning on talking about how, growing up- feeling enlightened about race although at times we lived in communities that were not- we had no idea about Juneteenth and that it really did not enter our consciousness until relatively recently. 

And then the greatest baseball player of all time died. 

Willie Mays, the Say Hey Kid died Tuesday at 93. 

His stats speak for themselves. 660 home runs. Life time 301batting average.  3,292 hits. 12 Gold Gloves. Rookie of the year in 1951 after starting out hitting 1 for 26. Two time MVP.  Baseball is a game of stats, which is one reason why we love it. But it is so much more than stats and Willie Mays was so much more than stats. No player ever had the combination of power, speed, athleticism, arm, and grace.  Babe Ruth combined power and athleticism (he was a pitcher first), but you do not hear people talk about his arm or speed on the base paths. Hank Arron is the closest to Mays, and you can make an argument for Clemente, but in the end, Willie Mays stands alone. 

When you watch the most famous catch in baseball history,  there are a few things to keep in mind. It was game one of the 1954 World Series at the Polo Grounds. Vic Wertz was the batter.  The ball was hit to centerfield which measured 483 feet at its deepest. Mays took off on a full run and his back was to the ball when he caught it at around 450 feet. The game was tied 2-2 in the eighth inning and Cleveland had runners on first and second- so the catch, in a tied world series game, had added stress and importance. 

And then after the catch, in one fluid moment Mays turns and throws a bullet to second base holding the runner. The catch would have been enough for mere mortals, but Mays was not a mere mortal. His throw is also one of the greatest in the history of the game. 

The game ended in the tenth inning. Mays set up the winning run by walking and then Dusty Rhodes hit a home run off of Bob Lemon and the Giants were on their way to a four-game sweep. 

Many have athletic ability. Many can perform under the stress of the moment. But it is the rare person who can use all of their abilities at a time when they are needed most. The man met the moment in Game One of the World Series in 1954 and it was the first of what would be many moments for the greatest ballplayer of all time. 

JUNETEENTH 2022

 Today is Juneteenth. You may not expect what we are next going to write. There will be no pablum decrying slavery and celebrating the end of the civil war and the end of slavery. We understand the holiday, but we do not feel it. 

Honestly, we were not aware of the holiday until perhaps a year or two ago. It's importance in African American culture did not permeate our thoughts. So we will not bore you with inspiring words we can write but do not feel. It would be inauthentic and we do not wish to go there. 

Instead we do two things: we invite those who do feel this holiday to write about it and we will put some of those comments in this post. Better people who understand this holiday write about it then some well intentioned interloper. 

And we pause for a moment to reflect on what we do feel. Dr. King was in Memphis before he was murdered to support a sanitation workers strike. He was planning another march on Washington regarding economic discrimination. We have always felt that was the great unfinished business of his life, and it continues to this day. 

What is the opportunity for disadvantaged Americans to make a better life for themselves and their families? That is what we think about on days like today. And we reflect that as the world undergoes changes because of Covid, and as we transition away from young people graduating college to a forty year life of putting on a suit and tie and commuting to an office, perhaps the time for change is upon us. Young people make money from social media by streaming things. They produce videos about travel and food and adventure and people watch and they make money from it. Race or sexual preference or nationality does not seem to factor into this equation. Technology is leading the way to economic opportunity. 

The Poor Peoples March on Washington DC did occur, without Dr, King, Led by Ralph Abernathy on June 19, 1968, Juneteenth was given a boast and people who left the march returned home and began their celebration of Juneteenth for the first time, commemorating the order issued by Union General at Galveston, Texas, that the war was over and all slaves were free: 

"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 rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer."

Please write about Juneteenth. People who read this blog deserve to have words written by those who understand the holiday in way we admittedly never will. 

Enjoy the day off. 

WHAT JUNETEENTH MEANS

 What Juneteenth means to Rumpole. 

Before this week....nothing. Or almost nothing. Memorial Day holiday would come, and then we would plunge into June, the summer vacation beckoning, the thought perhaps we could squeeze in a trial in June and a motion to suppress in early July before repairing to the Continent or a cool river out West to spend the end of July and August in some place other than the South Florida heat. 

"Juneteenth" would pop up in some internet articles in the last few years. Ask Rumpole in 2010 about Juneteenth or any time before that year and you would be met with a blank stare. 

We will spare you the self congratulatory details on our race based accomplishments. Those are meaningless in light of the cultural blindness one polymath blogger exhibited. 

So what does it mean that we can tell you with excruciating details the actions of the Fourth Infantry division in the Marne in July, 1918, or in Normandy in June 1944, but did not know that it took two years after the Emancipation Proclamation  for slaves in Texas to be free? We can tell you the actions of soldiers of the North and South at the Battle of Antietam, but we did not know until last week that Union General Gordon Granger and his men arrived in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1885 to tell the population that the war was over and the slaves had been freed. 

In a Country that celebrates freedom and independence from the British,  the celebration of freedom and independence of one set of Americans from another was a complete unknown. 

We are strong because of our ideals. We are stronger and better because we put our mistakes on the front page. From the Pentagon papers to the impeachment of presidents, self introspection and correction makes a democracy stronger. 

What Juneteenth means to one part of America is the celebration of the freedom of their ancestors from the monstrosity of slavery, a concept completely antithetical to a democracy- and yet something that to our great national shame existed and thrived. 

What Juneteenth means to us is the knowledge that we know nothing about the struggles of our fellow Americans.  We do not understand what it means to be the great...(as as many as needed) grandchild of a slave. It is not in our DNA or our cultural awareness. We can write powerfully against racism. We know nothing of what it feels like to be a child of a slave. 

Given the choice of knowledge without an understanding of what we do not know - which may be another way of saying "ignorance" we choose awareness of the  vast array of things we do not know anything about.  

Like Juneteenth. 

HAPPY JUNETEENTH

Hey Y'all. It's me! MillennialMe. Remember ME? 👸 The Girl who brought Emoji's to the famous Justice Building Blog? 

Here's a history lesson for y'all. Tuesday June 19, is Juneteenth! What is Juneteenth you ask?


Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. On June 19^th,  1865  Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. This was two and a half years after   January 1, 1863 when President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was issued.


The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.


One of General Granger’s first orders of business was to read to the people of Texas, General Order Number 3 which began most significantly with:

"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 rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer."

The reactions to this profound news ranged from  shock to  jubilation depending on your view of slavery.

The celebration of June 19^th was coined "Juneteenth" and grew with more participation from descendants of slaves over the years. The Juneteenth celebration was a time for reassuring each other, for praying and for gathering remaining family members. Juneteenth continued to be highly revered in Texas, with the descendants of former slaves making an annual pilgrimage back to Galveston on this date.

Certain foods became popular and subsequently synonymous with Juneteenth celebrations such as strawberry soda-pop. More traditional and just as popular was the barbecuing, through which Juneteenth participants could share in the spirit and aromas that their ancestors - the newly emancipated African Americans, would have experienced during their ceremonies. Hence, the barbecue pit is often established as the center of attention at Juneteenth celebrations.

The Civil Rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s yielded both positive and negative results for the Juneteenth celebrations. In 1968, Juneteenth received another strong resurgence through Poor Peoples March to Washington D.C.. Rev. Ralph Abernathy’s call for people of all races, creeds, economic levels and professions to come to Washington to show support for the poor. Many of these attendees returned home and initiated Juneteenth celebrations in areas previously absent of such activity. In fact, two of the largest Juneteenth celebrations founded after this March are now held in Milwaukee and Minneapolis.

Happy Juneteenth!

MillennialMe, cause it's all about....ME!