UF African American Studies Professor Denounces Systematic Racism on Juneteenth at Bo Diddley Plaza
Gainesville residents gathered at Bo Diddley Plaza today to celebrate the anniversary of when the emancipation proclamation was officially enforced.
Juneteenth was established on June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, as enslaved persons there were not informed of the signing of the emancipation proclamation until two years after it became law.
The event heard from numerous individuals, including Mayor Harvey Ward, University of Florida (UF) African American Studies professor Dr. Rik Stevenson, and musical performances from local band D.R. Band and Soul Fire.
Ward said, “It’s important to get together on what would normally be a work day. We can all take a moment to enjoy being together, to reflect on history, and to plan for what comes next, but [also] to enjoy the beauty of [this] moment in peace and in unity.”
After attendees heard chorus performances, Dr. Stevenson took the stage and said, "One of the things we learn about Juneteenth is that our foreparents were incarcerated for two extra years without knowing it. What we learned from it is that the same ancestors who incarcerated our foreparents had children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren; some of them are senators, governors, and leaders; and they think about us today as those people in the 1800s thought about our ancestors. In other words, those plantation owners in Texas did not tell our ancestors they were free, and likewise, there are those who don't want you to be educated as well. That's why they're taking African American studies out of the history books. That's why they're trying to argue that we learned ‘skills’ in slavery; that's not true. One of the reasons we were brought here is because of our skill set. The reason we knew how to grow cotton and sugar was because we brought that with us. We remember Juneteenth because Frederick Douglas said, 'An educated person is unfit to be a slave....' We have to stop relying on the American educational system to educate our kids. [The] responsibility to train our children is ours.... We've got to get our kids off Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat and get them into the library."
Stevenson went on to talk about a part of African American history that is commonly unheard of in numerous sectors of the American school system: that tens of thousands of Black soldiers fought and died in the civil war, with an overwhelming majority of their deaths being from infection and diseases. A report from the National Library of Medicine suggests Black soldiers were at a kinesiological disadvantage due to enslaved people having generally been forced to eat a malnourished diet. A report from the Gilder Lehrman Institute states, "African Americans were relegated to separate regiments commanded by White officers. Black soldiers received less pay than White soldiers, inferior benefits, and poorer food and equipment," indicating that structural, institutional, and interpersonal racism all played a part in the high number of African American solider's who died from infection and diseases during the civil war.
Stevenson spoke about another piece of African American history that is frequently left out of American classrooms. “We know about Paul Revere riding through Boston. ‘The British are coming, the British are coming.’ But most of us don't know about Wentworth Cheswell, a Black man in New Hampshire who also rode for the town with Paul Revere saying, ‘The British are coming, the British are coming….’ Someone else controls the narrative. As long as you and I expect the oppressor to teach us, we’re in a bad fix. Juneteenth reminds us of the nefarious nature of racism and white supremacy. It reminds us that the very people that we vote for will turn their backs on us, and therefore, it reminds us that we've got to become senators and governors; we've got to get into the business of running this country.... Those who won't teach you right won't treat you right. Juneteenth reminds us that we have to fight for our own liberty and governmental structure."
Stevenson concluded his speech by saying the Republican Party intends to eliminate the American educational system if they get into office again. “Part of their agenda is to dismantle the Department of Education while we’re Facebooking. One of the parts of their agenda is to enforce policing through the military while we're Tik-Toking…. If we want to do this thing, we’ve got to do it ourselves…. It’s a good thing to have barbecues and hang out, but more importantly, we’ve got to be better educated. We cannot rely on the oppressor to educate us to overthrow them.”
