"Juneteenth" no Texas

O Texas e um estado engracado... A abolicao da escravatura nos EUA aconteceu na segunda metade do seculo 19, mas os escravos do Texas nao ficaram sabendo ate 2 anos depois! Atualmente moro numa zona limitrofe da cidade, entre as casas descoladas de professores e alunos da Universidade, e a Zona Leste, antiga zona dos negros na epoca da segregacao legal, e atual regiao de maioria negra, bastante violenta e com alta incidencia de pobreza, trafico de drogas, entre outras amenidades. Ainda que Austin seja um enorme suburbio, calma e descontraida (chinelos havaianas sao, a 16 dolares o par, de uso quase oficial entre alunos da universidade, por exemplo), ha toda uma historia violenta mal contada. Como a midia passa o tempo todo se debatendo sobre o tempo que fara durante a semana, analisando desde a direcao do vento ate a quantidade de particulas de polen do ar, sobra pouco tempo para noticias de verdade... Abaixo, a definicao da Wikipedia do recente feriado do Juneteenth:


Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is an annual holiday in fourteen states of the United States. Celebrated on June 19, it commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas.

History
Though the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued on September 22, 1862, with an effective date of January 1, 1863, it had little immediate effect on most slaves’ day-to-day lives, particularly in Texas, which was almost entirely under Confederate control. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived on Galveston Island to take possession of the state and enforce the emancipation of its slaves. Standing on the balcony of Galveston’s Ashton Villa, Granger read the contents of “General Order No. 3”:

The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.

That day has since become known as Juneteenth, a name derived from a portmanteau of the words June and nineteenth.

Former slaves in Galveston rejoiced in the streets with jubilant celebrations. Juneteenth celebrations began in Texas the following year. Across many parts of Texas, freed people pooled their funds to purchase land specifically for their communities’ increasingly large Juneteenth gatherings—including Houston’s Emancipation Park, Mexia’s Booker T. Washington Park, and Emancipation Park in Austin. A wide range of festivities are traditionally done to entertain participants, from music and dancing to contests of physical strength and intellect. Baseball and other popular American games are played.

Recent Years
In recent years the holiday has attracted controversy due to outbreaks of violence. During Juneteenth festivities in 2007 crowds attacked cars in downtown Milwaukee. One driver was pulled from his vehicle and severely beaten before police arrived. A woman was also arrested during the festivities for assaulting a police officer.

Also in 2007, in Austin, Texas, a crowd beat a man to death after he attempted to defend the driver of a car which had just hit a child.

(essa ultima aconteceu ontem e ja esta na Wikipedia!)