being compensated

 Heard on the news this morning the tax filing deadline has been extended until tomorrow. The reason being the 15th fell on a Saturday and today is Emancipation Day in DC. It's a holiday. Now I admit that is the first I have heard of that, the closest thing I've heard about is Juneteenth. So off to Google and Wikipedia to learn a bit about this. On April 16, 1862 President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Compensation Act freeing about 900 slaves. This only applied to the District of Columbia. The "owners" were to be compensated for the loss of their slaves and would be paid an average of 300 dollars for each one. This wasn't very popular with anyone but those that were freed. The slave owners felt like the government was cheating them as their slaves were far more valuable than that. Those that had never owned slaves felt like they shouldn't have to pay for them with their taxes! Those being freed however were never offered any compensation whatsoever. In practice they were granted an indenture. This indenture afforded them protection from being forced to relocate, having their families separated and protection under the law against crimes committed against them. They were semi-free, as an indenture was seen as a step toward freedom altogether. This Emancipation Compensation Act was presented to the other slave holding states still in the union but was rejected. 

 As we all know it was December 6, 1865 when the 13th amendment to the constitution was ratified officially ending slavery in the United States of America. If we use the date of 1776 as the beginning of America is took 89 years for us to completely abolish that practice. A veritable blink of the eye when compared to other nations in the world. Back in 2021 President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act making June 19 a national holiday. June 19, 1865, is when General Granger issued general order #3 declaring all the slaves in Texas to be free. Of course, this wasn't recognized by the Confederacy. The north hadn't won the war yet! It wasn't officially ended until August 20th 1866! Yes, Lee had surrendered his army back in 1865 but that wasn't the official end of the war. Then in 2005 the DC Compensated Emancipation Day Act was passed making that day an official holiday in the district. It isn't a federal holiday. It could be argued that slavery wasn't officially ended in the United States until 1868 when the confederate states were readmitted to the union! A historical fact often ignored. In fact, Georgia wasn't readmitted until July of 1870. 

  I've always wondered why June 19, called Juneteenth, was chosen as the official day of celebration. This general order issued by a Union General didn't actually free anyone. It was no different that the Emancipation Proclamation. That proclamation freed all the slaves right? No, it stated all the slaves in the confederacy were now free. Remember there were four states where slaves were still legal to own until 1865! The Confederate States considered themselves an independent nation and as such felt they were not subject to any laws or proclamations made by the northern states. Had the confederacy won that war none of those proclamations would even be remembered today. But that was chosen as the national holiday. It just seems to me that December the 6th would have been a better choice as that is the actual day slavery was abolished throughout the land. All I'm saying is no one holding slaves in Texas freed their slaves because that General said so. Those slaves were freed by force, by union troops. Still, they weren't officially freedmen until December the 6th, 1865. 

 And now I just realized a holiday has been established celebrating what? When the slave owners would be compensated for owning slaves? In 1862 Lincoln signed that compensation package into law. All slaves were to be freed and the government would compensate you for your loss. Those being freed got nothing. So, you were kidnapped, held as a slave, forced to work for your "owner" and when those "owners" are forced to let you go, they get compensated? Yeah, that's a real government operation alright. But today, we have decided to celebrate that with a holiday? Seems a bit strange to me. 

 Well, you can't go back and rewrite history, relive it or change it in any way. Compensation was paid although in my opinion to the wrong party. That doesn't mean reparations should be paid today. That isn't going to do a thing for the past, for the people involved in all of that, one hundred and sixty one years ago. The government has taken property from citizens before, paying the "fair" market value, as compensation. The government deciding what is fair of course. Do I have a claim to that? The government took my families property in 1865 for a military installation. My family was paid twenty-five dollars, but the property was worth much more. Do I have a claim to that today? They should have gotten fifty! Interest on fifty dollars for one hundred and sixty years adjusted for inflation I should get a good sum as reparation, shouldn't I? 

 I guess Juneteenth and Emancipation Day are a form of compensation. A psychological compensation for the wrongs of the past. It is the final compensation. There is nothing more to be done about any of that. Sorry. In the end that is all any of us can offer, an apology. Enjoy the holiday as best you can and remember what it is you're celebrating.