Juneteenth

​Well today's run is in the middle of a weather delay. I will run in virtually anything here in virtual Tennessee - but not real lightning.

In run part 1, I spent some time pondering this Juneteenth holiday that's allowed me to have this day off and spend some time running.

In many ways, this holiday is very symbolic of the struggles of black people in America. Juneteenth recognizes the day Union soldiers arrived in Texas to let slaves there know they were free. Mind you - this was 2 1/2 years AFTER slavery had ended with the Emancipation Proclamation.

In a very real way, for slaves in Texas, slavery had been over - but not really.

And for many black people today, slavery is over, but not really.

I do a lot of work in trauma. There are two types of trauma. The trauma associated with bad things that happen to people that make it hard for them to have a good life. And the trauma associated with people not getting enough of the good things they need in life to have a good life.

Running today, it occurred to me that slavery was that first kind of trauma. A really bad thing happening to people for years that made it impossible for them to have a good life. I think many times we think, hey, slavery is over, so why aren't we all just moving on?

Well, it's that second kind of trauma. It's that Juneteenth trauma. The trauma associated with slavery being over but the impacts of it lingering and keeping black people from many of the good things they need to have a good life.

I think sometimes we forget how long it took for blacks to be allowed to attend college or to vote or to sit where they want on a bus or to go to the bathroom where they want - even though slavery had ended. Many black people still have to fight for those things.

For runners, just imagine everyone having a 5k head start in every 10k race you run......

I think I and maybe we have been prone to minimizing the impact that the head start white people got in life has had on black peoples' opportunities to have the kind of jobs I've had, and the healthcare I've had, and the neighborhoods I've been able to live in. That impact is a deep and generational trauma in many ways.

The question is how many more generations?

One of the challenges black people faced in Texas with the arrival of Juneteenth was where do we go now - there was no such thing as a black community. For them, there was no such thing as home.

Can you imagine that? Being set free, yet having no concept of home? Can you imagine being enslaved your entire life only to find out when you are finally set free in Texas, you have no idea where you belong?

Sadly, I think many blacks still have to wonder that over 150 years later. Too many, I think, still are forced to wonder - where do we belong?

The responsibility of that answer is on many of us who have long avoided that question.

Now rain rain go away.... many miles left to run here in virtual Tennessee.