I was going to write about the first American novel written by a Black woman today, but I read an article this morning that made me think a lot about where I come from and what I think I know. So we will save that for Monday!
The article is “Celebrating Juneteenth in 2020 is a Resistance Act” by Kayla Stewart in Texas Monthly. It came out yesterday, and when I read it I immediately remembered being taught about Juneteenth as a child. (If you need to be educated about Juneteenth, you can do that yourself here or here.)
In the state of Texas, every public school child takes two years of Texas history: in 4th and 7th grade. This is ostensibly a really good idea. It is hard for humans to understand things they cannot relate to. It is much easier to understand the history of the country if you can see the relics and repercussions of it in your own life. But Texas history in public schools often functions as more of a pro-Texas propaganda push than an actual history class. This became crystal clear when I took more Texas history classes (I’m an idiot) in college.
Anyway, the thing I want to touch on is that we WERE taught about Juneteenth in schools. My mostly white class in my good suburban school was taught that it was the date the last slaves in the country were freed. But we were also taught that it was a minority of Texans. That the people who owned slaves were not “us.” Not only is this, um, not true and reductive, it plays into a larger narrative that Texas is not The South and not The West, but it’s own thing. This is in my opinion true, but to hold that title means that the state also must grapple with the failures of both societies. Instead it grapples with none of them.
Here’s part of Stewart’s article:
“To be Black in this nation is to constantly exist in abundant joy and adoration of your culture, alongside a deep frustration and restlessness with your country’s inability to rectify its oldest, most painful ills. In Texas, Black people suffer from health disparities at rates far higher than their white peers. Many Black children still lack access to equitable, quality schools. The income gap between Black and white Texans continues to grow, undoing decades of progress for Black communities. These wounds aren’t specific to Texas; they reflect national trends, demonstrating the nation’s need not only to mark Juneteenth, but to finally make good on its promise to ensure that all Americans can enjoy true liberty, freedom, and justice.”
Texans have pride in so much: in the size and the amount of oil, in the sky and the beaches, in the fact that we have basically every topography. But white Texans must also learning to have pride in our diversity: historically and presently. Houston is the most diverse city in America. It also gave us Beyoncé, Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, and Travis Scott.
So today, as this is a newsletter about books and it is Juneteenth, I am recommending a book to buy that is about Texas and being black and dangerously beautiful. It is a book that I absolutely loved when I found it in a bookstore in 2015, and that maybe, you’ll love too.
I recommend: Cynthia Bond’s Ruby.
Buy it from Bookshop.org here.
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