HAPPY JUNETEENTH!!!

Celebrates the liberation of black American slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865

On June 19, 1865, the Union General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Tex., to inform inhabitants of the Civil War's end two months earlier. Two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  It is said that Granger read the contents of the  General Order Number 3 stating: 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.

June 19th—which was quickly shortened to "Juneteenth" among celebrants—has become the African-American addendum to our national Independence Day, for, as Juneteenth jubilees remind us, the Emancipation Proclamation did not bring about emancipation, and the prevailing portrayal of Independence Day ignores the ignominious incidence of slavery entirely.

The state of Texas is widely considered the first U.S. state to begin Juneteenth celebrations with informal observances taking place for over a century; it has been an official state holiday since 1980. It is considered a "partial staffing holiday", meaning that state offices do not close, but some employees will be using a floating holiday to take the day off. Schools are not closed, but most public schools in Texas are already into summer vacation by June 19th. Its observance has spread to many other states, with a few celebrations even taking place in other countries.

As of June 2011, 39 states and the District of Columbia have recognized Juneteenth as either a state holiday or state holiday observance; these are Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Liberation - OutKast F/ Cee-Lo, Eryka Badu, Big Rube

~In Honor of Juneteenth~ 

"Liberation"(feat. Erykah Badu, Big Rube, Cee-Lo)

And there's a, and there's a
And there's a, and there's a, finnne.. linnne
Too late to pray that I'm on it..
Ya, yeah, yeah

[OutKast]
Y'all, uh-huh, y'all
[Andre Benjamin]
And there's a fine line between love and hate you see
Came way too late, but baby I'm on it..
And there's a fine line between love and hate you see
Came way too late, but baby I'm on it..
Can't worry bout, what a nigga think now see
That's Liberation and baby I want it..
Can't worry bout, what another nigga think
Now that's Liberation and baby I want it..

[Big Boi]
(Let me hear it, let me hear it, let me hear those, let me hear those)
How many times I, sit back and contemplate
I'm fresh off the dank, but I'm telling my story..
My relationship, with my folks is give and take
And I done took so much, not giving my glory
Now have a choice to be who you wants to be
It's left uppa to me, and my momma n'em told me (yes she did)
I said I have a choice to be who you wants to be
It's left uppa to me, and my momma n'em told me

[Cee-Lo]
No, no, no
I'm so tired, it's been so long - struggling, hopelessly
Seven and forty days.. hey
Oh, I sacrifice every breath I breathe
To make you believe, I'd give my life away
Oh lord, I'm so tired, I'm so tired
My feet feel like I walked most of the road on my own
All on my own, wee..
We alive or we ain't living, that's why I'm giving until it's gone
Cause I don't wanna be alone (I don't wanna be alone)
I don't wanna be alone.. yeah
If there's anything I can say, to help you find your way
Touch your soul, make it whole, the same for you and I..
There's not a minute that goes by that I don't believe
that you die.. but I can feel it in the wind
The beginning or the end
But people keep your head to the sky

[singers in background over interlude]
Shake that load off, Shake that load off

[16X]

[Erykah Badu]
Folk in your face, you're a superstar
Niggas hang around cause of who you are
You get a lot of love cause of what you got
Say they happy for you but they really not
Sell a lot of records and you roll a Benz
Swoll up in the spot, now you losing friends
All you wanna do is give the world your heart
but the label tried to make you compromise your art
You make a million dollars, make a million mo'
First class broad treat you like a nigga po'
You wanna say "Wait!" but you're scared to ask
as your world starts spinning and it's moving fast
Try to stay sane, it's the price of fame
Spending your life trying to numb the pain
You shake that load off and sing a song
Liberate the minds, then you go on home..

[Big Rube]
I must admit, they planted a lot of things
in the brains and the veins of my strain
Makes it hard to refrain, from the host of cocaine
From them whores, from the flame
From a post in the game
Makes it hard to maintain focus
They're from the glock rounds, and lockdowns, and berries
The seeds that sow, get devoured by the same locusts
Cause it's a hard row to hoe
if your ass don't move, and the rain don't fall
And the ground just dry
But the roots are strong, so some survive
So you're surprised, now I'm bustin cries
You got more juice than Zeus
Slanging lightning trying to frighten
Plains dwellers, of the Serengeti
But get beheaded when you falsely dreaded
Melanin silicon and collagen injected
Dissecting my pride, fool I don't wanna get it started
We be the lionhearted, without a fantasy
It's like that red sprite, you can't imagine it
unless you lookin at the canvas of life
and not through the peephole of mortality
Single minded mentality
Gettin over on loopholes
Gettin paid two-fold on technicalities
Clicking your heels, scared to bust how you feel
Pack the steel
Picking cotton from the killing fields with no toe
I don't we in Kansas no mo' though
Midwest or Dirty South
Clean dressed or dirty mouth
Whether robbin preachers or Killing Poor Righteous Teachers
You a scared demon
Shouldn't be allowed to spread semen
And your cowardly lies never defyin the jackals who babble
Running with they pack, tail between your legs
Though the man on your head say the story
As you downplay your glory
Cackling, helping the shackling of your brethren happen
Just by rapping..
LIBERTAD..

Happy Juneteenth!!!

Juneteenth

Celebrates the liberation of black American slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865

On June 19, 1865, the Union General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Tex., to inform inhabitants of the Civil War's end two months earlier. Two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  It is said that Granger read the contents of the  General Order Number 3 stating: 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. 

June 19th—which was quickly shortened to "Juneteenth" among celebrants—has become the African-American addendum to our national Independence Day, for, as Juneteenth jubilees remind us, the Emancipation Proclamation did not bring about emancipation, and the prevailing portrayal of Independence Day ignores the ignominious incidence of slavery entirely.

The state of Texas is widely considered the first U.S. state to begin Juneteenth celebrations with informal observances taking place for over a century; it has been an official state holiday since 1980. It is considered a "partial staffing holiday", meaning that state offices do not close, but some employees will be using a floating holiday to take the day off. Schools are not closed, but most public schools in Texas are already into summer vacation by June 19th. Its observance has spread to many other states, with a few celebrations even taking place in other countries.

As of June 2011, 39 states and the District of Columbia have recognized Juneteenth as either a state holiday or state holiday observance; these are Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

HAPPY JUNETEENTH!!!