Everyday ethics: Celebrating freedom on Juneteenth
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, marks the end of slavery in our country.
In the middle of the Civil War on Jan. 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, granting freedom to all slaves held in the 10 Confederate states. However, the proclamation was not put into effect until April 1865 when Confederate Gen. Robert E.Lee surrendered in Virginia.
On June 19, 1865, U.S. Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger delivered to the people of Galveston, Texas, General Order No. 3, which read, in part:
“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 personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.”
It’s interesting how the theme of freedom stretches from the beginning of our country to the present day. And while “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are ingrained in our national consciousness, so, too, are the attempts to limit freedom.
The moral arm of the universe may be long and bends toward justice as the abolitionist preacher Theodore Parker said, but sometimes it takes longer than most wish while others seek to take away rights and move us backward.
“If the cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail,” the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said. “Because the goal of America is freedom, abused and scorned tho’ we may be, our destiny is tied up with America’s destiny.”
I remember once telling the story of the civil rights movement in which I played a small part, when a student asked an honest and great question: “Why would a white man support an African American movement?”
I don’t remember my words exactly, but I hope they were close to what I feel today.
Looking beyond the barriers that separate us, everyone is a member of the human race. Therefore, I am bound to others as part of that community.
Treating others as one wishes to be treated is an ethical principle of many spiritual traditions.
Removing cultural, political and religious barriers to freedom is a requirement for living ethically as an individual and society.
The words of the prophet Micah have always struck me as the basis for what is required to live an ethical life: “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
John C. Morgan is an author and teacher. He can be reached at drjohncmorgan@yahoo.com. Information about June 19 is from Catherine Boeckmanm, senior digital editor of The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
View more on Mainline Media News