The Salt Lake County Library is using the term “waves of freedom” in observing Juneteenth. I appreciate this point of view, reaching from the most successful slave rebellion in the continental U.S. in 1526, to modern-day injustice which keeps many African-Americans in prison, under the belief that this is the best we can do (see the story of C.J. Rice, The Atlantic, November, 2022).

The desire to be free is innate in human beings. The African Slave Trade was created to provide labor to capitalist enterprises in Europe and the Americas, and its maintenance required much brutality, social and legal support, and death. Mental gymnastics used the extension of Christianity and the imposition of inferiority, sub- or non- humanity, on Africans, while protecting the security and superiority of Europeans.

June 19, 1865, was a midway point. Chattel slavery was still legal in California, New Jersey, and Kentucky. The fall of Reconstruction in 1877 brought neoslavery, supported by the Federal government and Nothern investors, to ensure a labor supply. The student-led civil rebellion of the 1950s changed the concentration-camp atmosphere of the South, and brought national attention to the relentless tactics used to maintain it.

The North has been slow to acknowledge its own profits from slavery and neo-slavery. Lynchings occurred nationwide, along with Klan activity. No state has been left untouched by issues of police brutality, income inequality, or the massive acquisition of assets by a small percentage of the population.

Freedom is precious, and always at risk of loss. We should never forget how easily we can fall back.