"Meditation on Juneteenth" | Valarie Stanley, Senior Warden at St. Luke's Episcopal Church | June 16, 2023

On Friday, June 16 parishioners from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Whalley Avenue, and Trinity on the Green met up together at Villano Park in Hamden to commemorate Juneteenth with a picnic and a service of Evening Prayer. Many thanks to Valarie Stanley, Senior Warden at St. Luke’s, for sharing these words at that service:

Good evening Church. In our gospel reading, Jesus reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah is said to have come to proclaim release to the captives, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Isaiah is believed to have lived between 800 and 701 BC.  800 and 701 BC

Fast forward to 1865 in the United States of America and there are captives who are oppressed. They are slaves! They are not free! Just as Isaiah had a message to deliver, Major General Gordon Granger, who had fought for the Union, had a message to deliver. On June 19th he led a force of soldiers to Galveston, Texas to deliver his very important message. The war was over! The Union had won! Hurray! This is truly something to celebrate. Or is it? Here’s the issue, the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed two years earlier and slaves in Texas were declared free a full two and a half months earlier. For two and a half months some 250,000 Black people were enslaved when they shouldn’t have been! So, is that something to celebrate or not? I think that’s a personal decision. I can’t tell you how to feel. For me, it has never quite felt right. There’s a pit in my stomach when I consider Juneteenth a celebration. 

But I’m here. I’m here to commemorate, not to celebrate. When Rev. Luk asked me to preach, I said I would pray and think about it. And I did. The point at which I reached my decision was the day of Prince Charles’ Coronation. I was watching the ceremony on tv not really sure how I was feeling about it. I had heard about the reception that Prince William and Princess Kate received the last time they visited Jamaica which was on March 22, 2022. They weren’t very well received. The day before they arrived, 100 Jamaican academics, politicians, and cultural figures signed an open letter. The open letter said, “We are of the view an apology for British crimes against humanity, including but not limited to the exploitation of the indigenous people of Jamaica, the transatlantic trafficking of Africans, the enslavement of Africans, indentureship and colonialization, is necessary to begin a process of healing, forgiveness, reconciliation and compensation.” The following day, Prince William said, “Slavery was abhorrent and it never should have happened. I strongly agree with my father, who said in Barbados last year that the appalling atrocity of slavery forever stains our history.” Not quite an apology, but at least an acknowledgement. So I took you around the block a bit, but I wanted you to understand what was going on in my mind. I wasn’t sure how I was feeling about all of this coronation stuff and I was really curious about how Black Brits were feeling and reacting. The ABC News reporters were approaching people in the crowd asking how they were feeling about the Coronation. Many of the people that they stopped and talked with were Black. To my surprise, every one of those Black people said they were excited. They went further and asked if the fact that they are Black and given the, at the very least, complacency of the Royal Family in the treatment and enslavement of Blacks made a difference. Again, to my surprise, they said “no, it is true that happened, but they are the Royals, this is our country and I am happy and proud to be here. It was at that point, that the Holy Spirit said, okay Valarie, do you hear them, maybe it’s time for you to let your feelings about Juneteenth go! So, here I am. I’m listening to the Holy Spirit and I’m letting the Juneteenth thing go. So to speak. Those slaves in Galveston were ecstatic to hear that they were free, that they were no longer slaves. So I celebrate their joy! 

But I’m still waiting for “the year of the Lord’s favor” as proclaimed by Isaiah! George Floyd was murdered on May 25, 2020. Many of us believed that things were going to turn around after that. Maybe this is it, maybe this is “the year of the Lord’s favor”. It’s true that many people became woke and people at least started talking about the reality of the continued injustice and mistreatment of Black people in this country. However, there have been 2,500 people shot by police for non-violent incidents since George Floyd was murdered. 38% of those were Black even though they only represent 13% of the population in this country. Sadly, the struggle continues. Less than a month ago, May 20, 2023, 11 year old Aderrien Murry called 911 because of a domestic dispute between his mother and her ex-boyfriend. Yet he was shot by police as he was walking out of his house with his hands up! He fortunately survived and the police officer has been suspended. Okay, that’s enough! I really don’t want to continue to dwell on all this negative stuff. I’m just saying, to my Black and Brown siblings, until we have true equality, we need to continue to have “the talk” with our young people. And as we continue to wait for “the year of the Lord’s favor”, we need to continue to teach them to pray and to have faith in our Lord and Savior. 

You know when Presiding Bishop Michael Curry was here for Bishop Mello’s ordination, he talked about joy, your joy. He kept saying, don’t let anyone steal your joy and he kept repeating your joy, your joy. Like I said earlier, I’m sure that the Black folks in Galveston were joyful when they heard the news that they were no longer slaves and would not at all appreciate me trying to steal their joy! So may their spirits be at rest this evening. I say to them, my dearly departed brothers and sisters whose backs were bent over, and whose fingers bled, thank you! I’ve grown from your roots as my shirt says and my grandbaby is growing up from your roots as his shirt says. Thank you! This evening I try to put myself in your spirit and to feel your joy and you know what, it feels pretty good! Congratulations!

Let us pray:

Lord, Jesus Christ

Who reached across the ethnic boundaries 

Between Samaritan, Roman and Jew

Who offered fresh sight to the blind and freedom to captives, 

Help us to break down the barriers in our community, 

Enable us to see the reality of racism and bigotry,

And free us to challenge and uproot it

From ourselves, our society and our world.

Amen