The Persistent Breakthrough of Juneteenth

The City of Vacaville recently asked me to give a speech for their annual Juneteenth celebration. Here is the transcript of that speech.

Hello everyone. Thank you to the City of Vacaville and, specifically, the Parks and Recreation Department for having me. It’s an honor to be with you all today.

I’m Ryan Rucker, former Parks and Recreation Vice Commissioner, but most importantly, I’m a Husband, Dad, Children’s Book Author, and Ice Cream maker.

Now, what is an ice cream-making children’s book author doing welcoming us to this event? That’s a good question; who let this man on stage? But seriously, as an author, I do a lot of writing, and as a writer, I do a lot of reading.

Juneteenth is one of those things that I’m embarrassed to say I knew nothing about until I was an adult. It’s not an event that gets brought up often.

Now, admittedly, I wasn’t a great student in school, so there is a chance that maybe one of my teachers mentioned Juneteenth, and it went right over my head, but let’s be honest; how much of Black History do we really know?

I’m half Black and half white, and I’ll never forget when my mom, who’s white, started researching our family history. Her roots go back to Ireland, so when she signed up for ancestry.com, she got all sorts of great information.

She could go back hundreds of years and find villages our ancestors lived in. She could see the professions they held and the kids they had. She’d track the kids and find out where they’d end up in the world. Truly, it was impressive as I wondered, “Who is keeping track of all this?”

And then she’s like, “Oh, let me look at my husband’s side of the family!” This is my stepdad, who is also Black, but whereas she was able to get loads of rich information about the white side of our family, she kept hitting dead ends when it came to the Black side.

Eventually, after doing some additional research, she found that that’s because the Black side of our family wasn’t listed as people. We were listed as livestock. Property. Bought and sold like cattle. What started as a fun little discovery project on a Sunday afternoon quickly turned into a “please turn this off right now” hard reality. It’s moments like that that make you realize history is very much alive today.

Now, here’s the thing. Like I told you, I’m an ice cream-making writer who lives in a great city, in a great home, and with a great family. I’m speaking on stage to many lovely people, and after this, I will probably swing by a coffee shop and pick up a Matcha latte. Life is good, don’t get me wrong. But when I look at my daughters and realize how lucky I am, I am aware that my life did not happen by accident.

I grew up without my dad. He left our family when I was two, and we didn’t talk to each other until I was an adult. A few years ago, I got to reconnect with him and ask him all sorts of uncomfortable questions, such as, “Hey, where’d you go?” And while I’ll never make excuses for his absence, it was clear he didn’t know how to be a dad.

Through more conversations, I found out that his dad didn’t know how to be a dad, his dad struggled to be a dad, his dad died at an early age, and his dad was enslaved. So here I am, two hours removed from a matcha latte, 37 years into my journey on earth, and only now beginning to pick up the pieces of what slavery started all these years ago.

Some days are hard, and a lot of days are confusing, but every day that I can be with my daughter is a day worth celebrating, and that’s why we’re here today: to celebrate.

So what is Juneteenth? Juneteenth is a celebration of the end of slavery in Galveston, TX. Texas was the last state in the country to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by President Abraham Lincoln.

Now, the Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1, 1963, and if we’re following the math, there were 2 ½ years between the end of enslavement and Galveston actually enforcing it. Regardless, on June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger made his way to Galveston and issued the following statement:

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 rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection, therefore, existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer.

This set off a string of celebrations and thus began the tradition that we are here today for.

The early Juneteenth celebrations featured gatherings, feasts, prayer meetings, and storytelling. As Juneteenth celebrations continued, we had more gatherings, feasts, prayer meetings, and storytelling. Throw in some BBQs, parades, and a whole lot of wonderful music, and you’ve got yourself a foundation for an amazing celebration.

But when you look at the origins of Juneteenth, or slavery in general, you might ask yourself, what is there to celebrate? We’ve got Black folks who were enslaved 2 ½ years longer than they should have been. Truly, we’ve got Black folks who should have never been stolen, sent across the ocean, and enslaved to begin with. What is there to celebrate?

Well, if you know Black people and you know Black culture, you know that our communities are resilient. For centuries, people have taken away our freedoms, our livelihoods, our families, our power to vote, and our ability to serve, and no matter what, we thrive.

We find ways to educate generations behind us and use tragedies to empower our future. Plainly put, there is nothing good that came out of slavery, but if you’re gonna give us your worst lemons, then prepare yourself for the best dang cup of lemonade that you have ever had in your life.

In recent history, there have been countless attempts to discredit Black history. As I mentioned, I’m a children’s book author, so when I see books with Black characters getting outright banned or removed from classrooms, I get angry. Angry because folks act like we don’t have access to all of human history in our pockets.

We used to have to go to the library to learn about Juneteenth. Now I can google “Juneteenth” and learn more about it in five minutes than I ever learned in school. To be clear, I still go to the library because it is awesome.

But my point is you can’t ban our history. Banning copies of Maya Aneglou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” isn’t going to prevent our story from being told. Black folks were enslaved for four hundred years, and as you can tell, we’re not going anywhere!

We’re in space, we’re in sports, we’re in your local businesses, and we’re right here on your city council. There is absolutely nothing you can do to hold us down.

We’re gonna sing, we’re gonna eat delicious food, we’re gonna party, and we are going to tell stories because Juneteenth is a day to remember, a day to reflect, and most importantly, a day to celebrate.

I am eternally grateful to my ancestors for never, ever, ever giving up. Their persistence and resilience are the reason I am here today. While they knew that freedom might not be within their reach, they hoped that one day, in 2024, someone in their lineage could be up here on this stage, speaking freely in a country they worked to build.

I am grateful for this city and truly grateful for my family, so together, let’s celebrate the persistent breakthrough of Juneteenth.

Ryan RuckerComment