Rant #2,678: Holiday Hootenanny

We have a real holiday hootenanny happening this weekend--

Happy Father’s Day Friday!
 
Or is it Happy Juneteenth Friday?
 
Or is it both?
 
Only your hairdresser knows for sure.
 
But Juneteenth is now a national holiday, set to fall on June 19 each and every year.
 
It marks the day that, according to legend, or fact, or fable, a group of slaves in Texas finally found out, months after the fact and a few years after the Emancipation Proclamation, that they were free.
 
Of course, there was no Internet then, no television, no radio, and newspaper distribution was probably spotty, so the word got out to them a bit slower than it got out to others, so we now recognize June 19 as the day that slavery officially ended in our country …
 
And the widening of the gap between the races widened, as making this an official holiday simply makes the racial gap between whites and blacks even deeper.
 
Some people evidently look at our current time as payback time for all the horrible things that white people did to destroy our country, and if you heard the exclamations that I did yesterday on the news when the national holiday was announced, you know that 20 generations separated from the last slave, whites—all whites—are being blamed for this horrid practice.
 
And it is just so wrong.
 
Heck, the earlier generations of my family were also enslaved people, and my family did not even come here until about 100 years ago, so why is my family, and other such families, being blamed for what transpired generations before we even set foot in America?

And why will younger generations now be taught about how horrible white people were--all white people, because we are as guilty by association as we are by color--toward blacks and people of color in this country?

It almost legitimizes racism toward all whites, which is already happening right before our eyes anyway in the world we live in today ... making some people embarrassed to be the color that they are and of the generational background that they were born into.
 
It is payback time, my friends, perpetuated by other white people who somehow have guilt about all of this, and feel they must atone for the sins of people from hundreds of years ago.
 
And did you know that the absurdity of the whole thing is that there is actually a Miss Juneteenth beauty pageant?
 
I saw this yesterday on the news, and I kind of figured that the bizarro world we live in really exists.
 
I mean, while we’re at it, let’s have a Miss Pearl Harbor Day beauty contest … how about a Miss Holocaust beauty pageant too.
 
All of this is absurd, but it is also real, which is kind of scary.
 
#STOPTHEPANDERING, because this new holiday exists only for that reason ... and somebody has to say what I said, and I just did. You are open to refute me, too, but I see loud and clear what is going on, and I don't like it one bit.

 
Let’s now focus on a special day that all of us—white, yellow, black and brown—can celebrate and enjoy without unnecessary politics thrown in.
 
Sunday is Father’s Day, and it is a special day each and every year for dads across our country.
 
It honors us patriarchs for what we bring to the table as fathers, and it isn’t just that we have the inner mechanics to produce a child.
 
It is more about how we handle ourselves, as parents, once our children are born, and it includes passing on the skills our children need for survival in this tough world we live in.
 
It includes responsibility, knowledge, and common sense, attributes difficult to muster in this bizarro world we live in, but even in a such a world, these attributes are necessary for survival.
 
This Father’s Day is going to be much different for me, as my father won’t be here to enjoy the day, which I believe was his favorite holiday.
 
My father in law also won’t be here to enjoy the day, but the two men’s passing signified that the baton has been passed on to the children of these men to lead their families.
 
In my case, with my dad, the baton has been firmly placed in my hands, and like my father, I intend to run with it to the goal line, into the end zone, and beyond.
 
To discuss the importance of Father's Day to me and other fathers, I would like to go back to what I said in Rant #984, June 14, 2013.  Here goes, in edited form:
 
"This Sunday is Father's Day, and in my family, we call this the holiest day of the year.
 
Or at least the men in the family call it that.
 
It is the day to celebrate fathers and all they do for our society.
 
Fathers often get knocked for not doing the right thing, but fathers are important to the very framework of the family.
 
In the old days, it was the father who "brought home the bacon" to the rest of the family.
 
Today, in two-salary households, it is less so than it was a generation ago, but fathers continue to work hard and provide for their families.
 
I was lucky, because my father was solid as a rock.
 
He worked hard, did what he had to do with his kids, and earned the right to call Father's Day the holiest day of the year.
 
I have tried to follow in my father's footsteps. I work hard, do what I have to do with my kids, and I think I have earned the right to call the day the holiest day of the year too.
 
So happy Father's Day to all you dads out there.
 
Even though we are often drubbed as not being around, and when we are around, clueless about what is going on, there may be nothing more important than the bond between a child and his parents.
 
And that includes fathers.
 
So have a nice barbecue, have a nice dinner or brunch, and relax on Sunday.
 
It is our day to do whatever we want to do.
 
And we deserve it, we really do."
 
There really isn’t much more to say about Father’s Day and the importance of fathers in this world we live in.
 
So to all the dads out there, have a great day!
 
I know that I will.
 
Also, have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.