Purposeful Perspectives: Juneteenth

I was older than I care to admit when I first learned about Juneteenth – a day that commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States. In fact, most of my adult life has been threaded by histories I should have already known about and the unraveling of school history lessons that were untrue.

• The first Thanksgiving meal was actually a massacre of a Pequot tribe.
• George Washington did not confess to cutting down his father’s cherry tree.
• Abraham Lincoln did not initially support the Thirteenth Amendment.
• The Emancipation Proclamation did not free all enslaved people in the United States.

I have slowly realized that it is a privilege to feel unconcerned with our country’s past. The more I learn, the more I see how much I do not know. When the Georgia CASA team took a staff trip to Montgomery, the experience was even more eye-opening.

We started with a tour led by Michelle Browder of More Than Tours. On her Civil Rights & The Mothers of Gynecology tour, we began with Montgomery’s foundation of colonization and slave trade, visited Dr. King’s home, and learned about the enslaved women used for experimentation by the “father of gynecology.”

Then, we visited The Legacy Museum. What an experience. This museum is a place that could be visited day after day, and still I would see something I didn’t see before. There were many takeaways, but the most prominent one for me was reading a letter from John Adams lamenting how horrendous slavery was. He wrote of seeing families separated and how unjust, immoral, and against the country’s founding values slavery was. This letter was powerful to me. It confirms that there was never a time when slavery was not perceived as the evil it was. It also highlighted the relevance of this conversation to our work at Georgia CASA. Throughout the museum, the separation of children from their families was on full display. During whichever decade and whatever form racial injustice took – slavery, segregation, Jim Crow – the fracturing of families was integrated into the very fabric.

By the time a CASA volunteer is brought into a situation, a child has been removed from the home. The volunteer’s goal is to help that child reach a permanent placement, and we hope that can be back at home with their families. Reunification is often the best-case scenario for families and the best place for a child to thrive. Every child and family that we come into contact with is unique and has a unique situation. But we know that for those families who have also experienced generational trauma and a history of institutionalized racism, the value of reunification is even more effective. The preservation of families, especially when many external forces have targeted the family structure, takes intentionality.

Though history books remain intimidating to me, I am grateful for museums, podcasts, blogs, articles, and social movements to help educate and guide me to crafting a fuller, more accurate picture of our history. This expanding picture is something I bring to my work every day. Juneteenth is a visceral reminder to me that I cannot be passive about seeking this out; these truths in our past are key to understanding our present and key to supporting all children and families in crisis in Georgia.

As an organization dedicated to supporting children and families in crisis, we recognize that holidays can be a delicate and nuanced time for many. In this series, Purposeful Perspectives, we asked our staff members to select a season, month, or day that is meaningful to them to share with our CASA community. Thank you for joining us as we take a deeper look behind the celebrations that fill our lives.