{"id":545,"date":"2025-06-19T14:12:35","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T14:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/?p=545"},"modified":"2025-06-19T14:12:35","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T14:12:35","slug":"before-i-sip-my-strawberry-soda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/?p=545","title":{"rendered":"Before I Sip My Strawberry Soda"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Galveston, Texas, 1863.<\/em> Slavery had not ended here. Not even close. Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation \u2014 begrudgingly<\/em>. Not because he was morally opposed to slavery (he wasn\u2019t trying to abolish it where it already existed), but because he needed a win. He needed Black bodies \u2014 soldiers, laborers, leverage \u2014 to tilt the war in the Union\u2019s favor. By any means necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So miss me with that \u201cLincoln freed the slaves\u201d nonsense. And while you\u2019re at it, stop calling him The Great Emancipator<\/em>. That title never fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truth is, the Proclamation only applied to Confederate states still in rebellion \u2014 not to the loyal slaveholding states in the Union. And even in the South, it had no real power unless Union troops were there to enforce it. Which is why freedom didn\u2019t reach Galveston until June 19, 1865<\/strong>, when General Gordon Granger rolled in with federal troops and announced that \u201call slaves are free.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two and a half years late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the day we call Juneteenth<\/strong> \u2014 our true Independence Day. The day the last of us were told<\/em> we were free, even if we weren\u2019t yet treated like it. It\u2019s not just a historical date. It\u2019s a reminder that freedom has always arrived late for us. Delayed. Denied. Dangled. But never fully delivered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet\u2014we celebrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We celebrate because our people took that delayed declaration and made it a ritual of remembrance, resistance, and joy. In the face of grief and ghosts, we gather. We wear red (purple & gold for me), we eat red, we drink red\u2014red velvet cake, hibiscus tea, and that strawberry soda. We pour libations for our ancestors. We sing spirituals, dance, and step. We tell our children the truth because the textbooks won\u2019t. And we smile wide in spite of it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, before I sip my strawberry soda this year, I\u2019m taking a breath to remember. To reflect. To honor the ones who never tasted freedom, and those who dared to imagine it anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I plan to celebrate \u2014 with my people<\/em>. Black people. On purpose. With music, laughter, memory, and love. Some of that good ole Black Joy I talk about so often. Not because America gave it to us, but because we took it \u2014 and we made it sacred.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Galveston, Texas, 1863. Slavery had not ended here. Not even close. Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation \u2014 begrudgingly. Not because he was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blackness"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=545"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":547,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545\/revisions\/547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}