A Rejected Althouse Comment

It was off-topic, but waste not, want not:

I think some people want to make Juneteenth problematic.

I was in a Twitter “debate” a few days ago and the poster was claiming that teaching about Juneteenth was illegal due to anti CRT laws being passed in various states. The line of “reasoning” was as follows:

Opening salvo by none other than former Sec of Labor Robert Reich:

“So let me get this straight: Juneteenth is now a federal holiday, but laws are being enacted all across the country to keep people from learning about it?” 

Pushback from Zaid Jilani:

“No, that’s not at all what’s happening, but what’s the point of correcting you? It’s not a genuine question.”

Defense of Reich from Xavier Harmony:

What kind of white person can learn about Juneteenth without feeling discomfort?

“A bill signed into law by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt bans lessons that include the concept that someone should feel discomfort, guilt or distress on account of their race.”

Where I come in:

“The point of Juneteenth was that people were freed, not that it was fine to own them.”

To elaborate a bit: I became aware of Juneteenth about 20 year’s ago.  I believe it was from an article in someplace like The Atlantic or The New Yorker about Ralph Ellison's novel, Juneteenth.  I haven’t read it, but the review gave some background of the Juneteenth episode in history.  

From an intellectual point of view, it was somewhat predictable:  No rational person would think that all the slaves were freed the day after Appomattox, news traveled slowly and it was a large country.  In fact, I suppose there were some people still enslaved even after Juneteenth—some out-of-the-way place, that didn’t get the news, or just ignored it until somebody came and forced them to comply.

Anyway, what I felt about Juneteenth and in fact, whenever I hear about slaves being freed, wars ending, etc. is happiness.  Not guilt.  Why would I feel guilt for things that happened long before I was born?  And really, who but a racist, thinks I ought to feel guilt for something out of my control, like the color of my skin or the circumstances of my birth?