[U] While We Celebrate Juneteenth -- 152 Years On -- We Reflect Upon The Power Of Information...

UPDATED: Noon Eastern -- I retract my jab, below -- at least in part. Just moments ago, at noon (Eastern -- did they read this?), though never mentioning stolen labor or stolen lives -- 45's White House has put out a remembrance message, of sorts. I salute it -- typos, and all. [I think he means promise, when he says "premise", at the conclusion of the second paragraph from the end. But maybe. . . that's no typo -- and that too, is telling -- in Mr. Trump's America, the nation only thinks about equality as a premise, it doesn't promise it. Fascinating. ". . .Nation’s fundamental premise. . . ." End updated portion.]

Who controls the information? It seems almost an antiquated notion now, some three decades on -- with the internet having democratized almost all access to. . . information. Regardless of how one feels about Snowden, Assange and Chelsea Manning, or even the Shadow Brokers and Anonymous -- it is impossible to put the genie back in the bottle, now. [Allowing the extended family to see a grand niece's first steps, in real time, is a wonderful side benefit here, in truth! But I digress. . . .]

Witness the truthful -- but anonymous -- sources now filling the pages of the NYT and WaPo, with less than savory news of how 45 really operates his "kingdom" -- in dereliction of the promises he's made to the American people.

But as I celebrate this day, for its 152^nd anniversary -- I must note that the Emancipation Proclamation is over 154 years old. And so, while the celebration is about the end of bondage -- and freedom -- for people of color, nationwide -- in many parts of the South, people were not informed of their freedom. . . for years.

Galveston is widely-recognized as the first mover in what became known as the Junteenth celebrations -- but as the record amply establishes -- none of the by-then former slaves there knew they were freed. . . for more than two full years.

They continued to endure the unspeakable, while the white, landed, moneyed and powerful people of Galveston. . . kept mum. Every one of them. Plainly, almost all of the white people knew -- in Galveston, and most of the South, in truth.

[Hey (in an echo, of sorts, of that) -- what are the odds that 45 will tweet out a heartfelt remembrance of Juneteenth(?!) -- affirming and thanking people of color for all the labor that was stolen from them -- to build this nation, and sustain it, even into this morning? Nil.]

So. . . I close where I opened: be wary of any government that tries to control the peoples' access to its dealings. That is -- as Alexander Hamilton well said -- the ordinal sign of. . . a tyrant. I am speaking to you, Mr. Trump. But we will not be snowed -- not this time. Onward -- to fully assert our. . . freedoms.

[The truth is almost always far stranger, no? On reflection, I must say more -- about Mr. Trump's press statement, above: He intentionally, I think, distorts history. He says "news traveled slowly. . . ." -- but ignores the very strong historical evidence that throughout the South the news was. . . SUPPRESSED -- by whites in power. Nary a mention of that, in his presser/missive, either. His version of the story of America is. . . white-washed (and literally, so) -- lacks. . . candor. Lacks perspective -- lacks empathy (i.e., "land of the free" -- but not a land of. . . "equality". Those are 45's last two thoughts on the topic, apparently.) Here endeth my sermon.]

नमस्ते