A call for freedom and liberation

Racquel Romans-Henry delivering her speech at the Juneteenth March & Rally for Reparations, Justice & Democracy, June 17, 2022. (Josie Gonsalves for Public Square Amplified)

NEWARK, NJ—Two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, with notification of the end of the Civil War and a military edict to end the enslavement of African people in Confederate territory.

June 17, 2022, marks one year since Juneteeth was recognized as a federal holiday in the United States.

The following is the original speech by Racquel Romans-Henry, the Policy Director at Salvation and Social Justice, from the Juneteeth March & Rally for Reparations, Justice & Democracy—co-sponsored by the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ) and the People's Organization for Progress (POP).

First, I would like to thank Brother Hamm and our brothers and sisters of P.O.P and NJ Institute for Social Justice for their leadership, for organizing this event and for allowing us the space to speak today.

We are here today to commemorate that day 156 years ago when General Granger rode into Galveston, Texas on horseback to announce the emancipation of Black people from slavery more than two years after its declaration. Two years! For more than two years Black bodies continued to endure forced exploitation, rape, and brutalization until the news of its emancipation reached them. Two years.

Now of course we know that life for Black people in America did not instantly improve once the emancipation proclamation was signed. We know that the emancipation of slavery was followed by Black Codes, chain gangs, Jim Crow, The War on Drugs, police brutality and the prison industrial complex. We know that for every advancement that Black people in this country have made despite the most hostile and unfavorable of conditions and circumstances, America has met it with vehement rage, violence, and acrimony. We know that this malice reaches far beyond unkind words and personal attacks but reverberates through its systems and established institutions. We know that every time Black folks begin to keep the pace, white supremacy switches the tempo.

American history teaches us from a very young age that Lincoln was this nation’s best president because he freed the slaves. When in fact the end of slavery was less about an awakening of conscience, but because he understood that the system of slavery had become untenable. He understood that any refusal to end slavery would consume the nation from the inside out. It was less a matter of conscience, you see, and more a matter of self-preservation. 

Why is this important? It is important because collectively we have to internalize the understanding that every last bit of progress that we’ve achieved was not dependent on a stroke of conscience from white America. White America must understand that they cannot damn us without damning themselves… leaving what is right and what is just as the only option.

We know the truth that our ancestors learned 156 years ago, and that is that emancipation does not equal freedom. Emancipation by itself does not equal liberation. Emancipation by itself is not justice. We can’t truly realize freedom and liberation without addressing, challenging and ultimately changing the systems that are rooted in our subjugation. We won’t see justice until those same systems offer reparations for all it’s destroyed, stolen… and for all that is owed. And reparations are not going to come because of a stroke of conscience.

So here we are more than two years since the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Additionally, you have Dante Wright, Andre Hill, Manuel Ellis, Rashawn Brooks, Daniel Prude, Atatiana Jefferson, Amir Locke, Elijah McClain, Adam Toledo, Maurice Gordon, Thelonius Mcknight. More than two years of taking a knee four years too damn late while declaring Black lives matter, and still NJ legislature has failed to pass substantive police accountability legislation. More than two years and we continue to hear that there’s no appetite, no political will to move on social justice bills right now. In this NJ??? Here in a state where Black people are three times more likely to face police force than white people. Here, where Black folks are incarcerated at a rate of 12.5 times that of white residents. Here in NJ, where Black people make up just 15% of the population but represent 43% of drug arrests despite the fact that there is no evidence that Blacks use drugs at a higher rate than whites.

Juneteenth has got to be more than a paid holiday. We cannot allow anyone to reduce the significance of this day by cheapening it. This day must be met with a rallying cry for justice and reparations. What does reparations look like? It means investments into our communities in the way of education, housing, community led alternative responses programs, violence interruption, community led programs that assess and address the needs of our people by our people, and investments in Black maternal health centers. In NJ Black babies are three times more likely to die than white babies before reaching their first birthdays. So, if they make it past the age of one, then they are subjected to segregated schools with limited resources and opportunities before they are funneled through the school to prison pipeline. Get your foot off the necks of our babies! Desegregate public schools! End zero tolerance policies! Stop the investments into youth prisons! That’s what justice looks like. Stop police abuse and misconduct! Codify the Attorney General’s Use of Force Directive! Pass legislation that would require police licensing in the state of NJ!

If we aren’t talking accountability, we aren’t talking justice. If we aren’t talking reparations, we aren’t talking justice. If we aren’t talking investments in housing, education, health care, then we aren’t talking justice. If we aren’t talking justice, then we aren’t talking freedom!  We aren’t talking liberation!

And in truth, the time for talking is over. NJ needs to activate into action. Say the word reparations. Blow up your legislators’ telephone lines with calls demanding action. Assemble at the state house. Send emails. Let them know that this is not a request rather it is what is required for this state to truly live up to all it claims to be. And we won’t stop until victory is ours.