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Amity Foundation Teaching Community

Juneteenth Ceremony June 19, 2020

Naya Arbiter

When People Gather with Good Intent

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Reading 1

Please either sing or say the James Weldon Johnson verse below.

Please alternate this reading with two people.

Lift ev’ry voice and sing,

‘Til earth and heaven ring,

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the list’ning skies,

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,

Let us march on ’til victory is won.

— by James Weldon Johnson in 1900, Verse One Named the “Black National Anthem” by the NAACP in 1919

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Reading 1 continued

2020 marks the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth.

Why isn’t Juneteenth a national holiday?

Should not the ending of slavery be celebrated by all?

That Juneteenth has primarily been celebrated only in the African American

community contributes to the destructive narrative of our nation.

A celebration for those once enslaved, without transformation for slave

owners is only half of the story. John Newton, the former slave trader, author

of Amazing Grace, spoke more of his personal conversion in 1779 than most

do today.

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery. It is known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day. The Juneteenth holiday commemorates the day in 1865 when Major General Gordon Granger came to Galveston, Texas, to inform a very unhappy and reluctant community that President Abraham Lincoln two years earlier had freed the slaves and to press locals to comply with his directive.

Juneteenth is the story of a message belatedly delivered — allowing two more

years of rape, racism, fear, fractured families and more fields of harvested

cotton and profits for the slave owners…

Let us reflect on how the practice of belatedly delivered messages has echoed

through our time with the great civil rights decisions – How long did it take to

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get Brown vs the Board of Education implemented? How long for real voting

rights without voter suppression? How long will the violence against black

men, of people of color continue? How long before all school children can

study the reality of slavery, and the reality of the genocide against the native

peoples.

Learning the reality of freedoms journey, for all of our ancestors is our chance

to integrate their stories into the story of our time, change the narrative, and

hope for healing. Might we learn the entire story of our “founding fathers” and

grow beyond Thomas Jefferson, a slave owner who stated in his Notes on

Virginia:

“Deep rooted prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand

recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained… the real

distinctions which nature has made… will divide us into parties, and produce

convulsions which will probably never end but in the extermination of the one

or the other race. To these objections, which are political, may be added

others, which are physical and moral.

In memory they (blacks) are equal to the whites; in reason much inferior…

One could scarcely be found capable of tracing and comprehending the

investigations of Euclid: in imagination they are dull and tasteless.”

One is reminded that if in fact a people were so impaired why was necessary

to make laws forbidding them to read? Jefferson goes on to describe his

opinions of Native Americans which are equally distressing and racist.

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The international Juneteenth website states:

"Juneteenth is a day of reflection, a day of renewal, a pride-filled

day. It is a moment in time taken to appreciate the African

American experience. It is inclusive of all races, ethnicities and

nationalities - as nothing is more comforting than the hand of a

friend."

"On Juneteenth we come together young and old to listen, to learn

and to refresh the drive to achieve. It is a day where we all take one

step closer together - to better utilize the energy wasted on racism.

Juneteenth is a day that we pray for peace and liberty for all."

In addition to food, prayer, teaching, playing, and the telling of story during the

Juneteenth celebrations many former slaves threw their ragged clothing into

rivers and streams and dressed themselves anew.

Let us reflect

Let us celebrate

Let us pray

Let us build bridges for tomorrow

Please have two people talk: What is the ‘ragged clothing’ that

our nation needs to throw into the river this year in order to

dress itself anew?

End Reading 1

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Reading 2 — Breathing

Please either sing or say the James Weldon Johnson verse.

Please alternate this reading with two people.

Stony the road we trod

Bitter the chastening rod

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died

Yet with a steady beat

Have not our weary feet

Come to a place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered

We have come treading our path through the blood of

the slaughtered

Out from the gloomy past

Till now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast— by James Weldon Johnson in 1900, verse 2

Named the “Black National Anthem” by the NAACP in 1919

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Reading 2 continued

While there is breath there is hope —

There have been many for whom hope has died.

“We can’t breathe — We can’t breathe”, said the slaves in the holds of the ships

coming to American shores — as they sickened, died and were thrown

overboard.

“We can’t breathe”, said the families as they were separated at the auction block

“We can’t breathe”, said the Natives of the Americas as Columbus slaughtered

and enslaved them

“We can’t breathe”, said Fanny Lou Hamer and her friends as they were beaten

by police for attempting to register to vote

“We can’t breathe “, said the students of Kent State as four students perished

from National Guard gunfire

“We can’t breathe”, said the Japanese Americans loaded into trucks from little

Tokyo in Los Angeles and taken to the Manzanar Camp

“We can’t breathe”, said the 20,000 Chinese American workers who labored

and died building the most treacherous section of the transcontinental

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railroad. Then the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1882, prohibiting

Chinese from becoming citizens

“We can’t breathe”, said the women suffragettes demonstrating for the vote --

imprisoned, and force fed between 1909 and 1914

“We can’t breathe”, said the 97 black citizens lynched, during Red Summer in

1919 when white supremacists rioted in 25 cities against the black community — starting in Washington D.C.

“We can’t breathe”, said the 200 children, women and men massacred in

Elaine, Arkansas, in September of 1919. 500 troops were called in by the

Governor. The shooting started in a church

“We can’t breathe “, said the thirteen World War I veterans, African Americans

all who were lynched while wearing their uniforms

“We can’t breathe”, said the citizens at the Stonewall Inn as they were loaded

into police vans, in June of 1969, for fundamentally being gay

“We can’t breathe”, said James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew

Goodman as they were murdered during Freedom Summer in 1964

“We can’t breathe”, said Medgar Evers and his family as he was shot in the back

at his home and crawled with his last gasps towards his wife and children

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“We can’t breathe”, said the nine teenage Scottsboro boys as they were all

wrongfully arrested for rape in l931. The youngest was 13

“We can’t breathe”, said the 17 Mexican American youth wrongfully arrested

and convicted for the Sleepy Lagoon Murder in Los Angeles

“We can’t breathe”, said the women given “Mississippi appendectomies” in

the south, sterilized and never able to bear children

“We can’t breathe”, said Mamie Till and her family when they heard the news

of her 14-year son’s lynching in 1955

“We can’t breathe”, said the Native American women and children murdered

by slave owner Andrew Jackson, who would later become President and speak

with pride about how many native families he had exterminated

“We can’t breathe”, said thousands incarcerated under the “drug war” policy,

or the third strike laws, whose crime was non-violent — such as stealing food.

Many died in prison never to be re-united with family

“We can’t breathe”, said black men and women who were lynched and only

recently named and memorialized at the National Memorial for Peace and

Justice in Montgomery, Alabama

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“We can’t breathe”, said the unnamed deported farmworkers in 1948 whose

plane crashed in Los Gatos Canyon… only called “deportees”. like thousands of

“braceros” before them they believed in the promise — and immigration

removed them before they were paid

“We can’t breathe”, said hundreds of Muslim Americans who were beaten and

ridiculed after September 11th

“We can’t breathe”, said the members of the Emanuel African Methodist

Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, as their prayers were

interrupted by gunshots and nine perished on the floor

“We can’t breathe”, said all of the victims of mass shootings in the

United States

“We can’t breathe”, said the 20 children at Sandy Hook as they died

“We can’t breathe”, said George Swinney, electrocuted at 14 years old in 1944.

The trial was declared unfair after he was dead

“We can’t breathe”, say the members of Navajo Nation today, who are

sick and dying with COVID-19 without running water or adequate health care

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“I can’t breathe”, said George Floyd as he lay dying and called out to his mother

But Darnella Frazier, a 17-year-old high school student was able to keep

breathing and filmed this tragedy for the world to see.

Might we take one minute of silence and reflection out of

respect for all those who unjustly had their breath stolen

from them.

Have two people talk about someone they knew whose breath

was unjustly stolen from them.

End Reading 2

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Members of the 369th Infantry Regiment, also known as the Harlem Hellfighters, who were awarded the coveted Croix de Guerre from the French government before heading home

after World War I, 1919. Corbis/Getty Images

White children cheer outside an African American residence that they set on fire in

September 1919. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

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Reading 3

Please either sing or say the James Weldon Johnson verse.

Please alternate this reading with two people.

God of our weary years

God of our silent tears

Thou who has brought us thus far on the way

Thou who has by Thy might

Led us into the light

Keep us forever in the path, we pray

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee

Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee

Shadowed beneath Thy hand

May we forever stand

True to our God

True to our native land

— by James Weldon Johnson in 1900, Verse 3 Named the “Black National Anthem” by the NAACP in 1919

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Reading 3 continued

Might we appreciate those who have kept their feet upon the path…

True to their native land

For Bayard Rustin dodging the slurs of homophobia, ridiculed for his political

beliefs, who practiced non-violence and organized the March on Washington,

1963

For the Pullman Porters who endured racial slurs and kept working. They made

sure young black children on trains — often with only a note pinned to their

clothing naming their destination got home. Maya Angelou and her brother

Bailey were two of those children. Young Maya was three.

For all of the women that provided food, water and shelter for Dr. King and

Reverend Ralph Abernathy and their team—whose names have receded into

history --going to a restaurant was not an option.

For the thousands who were mourners at the graves and who attended the

funerals.

For the networks of relationships that persevered; for all of those who kept

dialog alive… for the Josephson brothers who ran Cafe Society in New York,

the first racially integrated night club in the United States… open for ten years

launching the careers of Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughn and more

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For Abe Meeropol, a New York Jewish schoolteacher, who had Neil Simon and

James Baldwin in his class. He wrote “Strange Fruit” after seeing a photo of

lynching in1937 and brought his poem to Billie Holiday at Cafe Society.

For W.E.B. DuBois for all he wrote, for all he said, and for inclusion. DuBois

invited Abe Meeropol and his wife to a Christmas Party and arranged for them

to adopt the Rosenberg children whose parents had both been executed.

For Billie Holiday for singing “Strange Fruit” over and over and over again. Time

magazine declared it “ a prime piece of musical propaganda" for the National

Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the 1930’s. In

1999 Time magazine would declare it the “song of the century.”

For Zora Neale Hurston who wrote and encouraged others to speak and tell

their stories – wisely saying: “If you are silent about your pain, they will kill you

and say you enjoyed it.”

For Albert John Luthuli, in 1960 he was the first African to win the Nobel Peace

Prize. Luthuli spoke up for non-violence and spoke out against apartheid in

South Africa,

For Barack Obama, who as a senator was first to speak on the Senate floor

about the threat of avian flu and other pandemics; fought tirelessly for the

destruction of weapons, pushed for alternative energy development and

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championed improved veterans’ benefits. He was only the third African

American elected to the United States Senate since reconstruction.

For the women of the Black Panthers in Oakland who carried on and hung

picture after picture on the wall of their offices of black men gunned down in

the streets.

For Spike Lee for continuing to tell the story — and maintaining a sense of

humor, for his recent film “Valentine to New York” during the Covid-19 crisis

and “Da Five Bloods”, a film about black soldiers in the Vietnam War.

For Gonzalo Mendez, Felicitas Mendez and their eight-year-old daughter Sylvia

who bravely fought to end “Mexican schools” in California: Mendez vs.

Westminster was joined by the ACLU, American Jewish Congress, Japanese

American Citizens League, and the NAACP which was represented

by Thurgood Marshall. They won in 1947 — and laid the foundation for

Brown v the Board of Education.

For Dick Gregory, whose humor helped Americans look in the mirror during

the Civil Rights movement on integrating southern restaurants he said he was

told “we don’t serve colored people here” and responded — that it was ok he

didn’t eat colored people – just wanted some chicken. He risked his career to

participate in the movement and went on to stage many hunger strikes to

bring attention to the Equal Rights Amendment, Native American Rights,

Prison Reform and police brutality.

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For Howard Zinn, author of the Peoples History of the United States whose

students at Spelman College, included Marian Wright Edelman and Alice

Walker who went on to help shape our world.

For those who read all of Dr. Kings work and continue to study. For all who

have written, spoken and worked: Michelle Alexander, Toni Morrison, Alice

Walker, Marian Wright Edelman, Ta-Neishi Coates, Bryan Stevenson, Maya

Angelou Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Ava DuVernay and Angela Davis.

For Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland the first Native American women elected

to the U.S. Congress.

For Mrs. Flowers who brought books to young Maya Angelou when she

stopped speaking — so Maya read Paul Laurence Dunbar, James Weldon

Johnson, Shakespeare, Edgar Alan Poe and more and more and more…

For Yuri Kochiyama, a Japanese American who moved to Harlem after being an

incarcerated in Arkansas in an internment camp during the war. An activist her

entire life, she was in the audience when Malcolm X was murdered. She ran

towards him — not away and held him as he died.

For all of the journalists who are reporting the disproportionate numbers of

people of color who are contracting and dying of COVID-19 and continue to

speak truth to power.

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For Andre de Shields who persevered on Broadway for 50 years, winning his

first Tony at 73 for Hadestown, whose demonstration has provided sanctuary

for other gay men. His three rules for longevity: "One, surround yourself with

people whose eyes light up when they see you. Two, slow is the fastest way to

get where you want to go. Three, the top of every mountain is the bottom of

another so keep climbing.”

For Robert Hayden, poet who wanted to be just known as a poet…

not a “black poet”

He wrote in his poem “Runagate, Runagate”

And this was the way of it, brethren brethren

Way we journeyed from Can’t to Can.

Moon so bright and no place to hide,

The cry up and the patterollers riding,

Hound dogs belling in the bladed air.

And fear starts a-murbing, never make it,

We’ll never make it. Hush that now…

WANTED Harriet Tubman. Alias the General. Alias Moses

Stealer of Slaves

In league with Garrison, Alcott. Emerson. Garrett, Thoreau

John Brown

Armed and Known to be Dangerous

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Robert Hayden helped paved the way for the first United States Youth Poet

Laureate, Amanda Gorman (who happens to be black).

For Dr. Ysaÿe Barnwell, one of the core members of Sweet Honey and the Rock. Her singing kept the stories of Steven Biko, the issues of climate change, toxic chemicals in the workplace and the need for freedom and

justice alive. For her continuing work of building community through song

and honoring Odetta.

For Ella Baker, teacher, civil rights activist, organizer who believed in participatory democracy. Her speech. "We who believe in freedom can not rest until the killing of black men is as important as the killing of white men” was memorialized in "Ella's Song", by Sweet Honey and the Rock.

Ella Baker stated that the movement made Martin (Dr. King). Martin didn't make the movement. May we all give ourselves permission to grow and develop during this time and allow this time to baptize us into our best self. For Valerie Kaur, peace activist and Sikh. Her uncle was mistakenly beaten and killed after September 11, by people who believed him to be Muslim. She asks, "Are we in the darkness of the tomb? Or are we in the darkness of the womb?" If you can believe that we are in the darkness of the womb, let us all do what the midwives have instructed us…

Breathe Push

Breath Push

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As we gather together with good intent Let us give birth to a better tomorrow Let us use our breath

We can breathe

Please have three people talk regarding one person they are

grateful for that promoted the cause of humanity and equality.

End Reading 3

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Reading 4

The Amity Dedication to Friendship

Let us say our prayers for those whom we love, Let the saying of these symbolize our move towards life,

Let us celebrate these gifts not only for ourselves, But for the memory of those who no longer enjoy it.

Let us move forth into our tomorrows, Let us give to the living who are in need, Please, grant that we find the courage to console, That we develop the patience to understand, That we nurture the strength to love, That we have the means to forgive each other and ourselves,

That we learn to live in this world in peace.

End Reading 4

End Ceremony Juneteenth 2020