seeking utopia

Today marks Juneteenth, the day when enslaved African Americans in Texas became free. The Emancipation Proclamation was 2.5 years old when it reached Galveston, Texas in 1965. Slaveowners in the state already knew, of course. Jordan Smith reports they forced in at least 150,000 enslaved folks in those 2.5 years. All this came decades after Texas itself went to war with Mexico to protect its own slaveholders. Mexico abolished slavery in 1829, and Texas declared its independence in 1835. But 30 years later, the enslaved people of Texas finally broke the bonds of chattel slavery. We've celebrated Juneteenth every year since.My ancestors (not even distant ones) lived during segregation and Jim Crow. Some of them took part in other civil rights struggles. These causes are, ultimately, linked. Lilla Watson put it best when she said, "If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” We…