The Scourge of Groupism

This past Wednesday, the nation celebrated "Juneteenth," a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the South. Finally recognized as a federal holiday just three years ago, it has been a big deal to parts of our population since that day in 1865 when "Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the American Civil War." Read more about it here.

I was disappointed to see a fair bit of pushback, snark, and other (usually mildly) negative commentary on my social media feed that day, which got me wondering, why? What has happened in our society that we can't wholeheartedly embrace what many call "America's second Independence Day," and be glad for the end of the barbaric scourge that is slavery?

After all, it is the very same set and source of values that founded this nation that led the world away from six thousand years of owning other human beings. I speak of the Enlightenment, the eighteenth century intellectual movement that finally assigned dignity and primacy to individuals, that spawned the concept of individual rights that's foundational to our Constitution, and that brought liberty and prosperity to the world.

The demise of slavery was remarkably rapid on the scale of human history. The institution that spanned the globe for 95% of human history is now utter anathema almost everywhere in the modern world. Almost, but not quite. Chattel slavery still enchains tens of thousands in other parts of the world. Every single case is a tragedy, and we should denounce them all. But, that should not stop us from embracing the end of the institution, in the US and around the world, in the nineteenth century.

By “us,” I mean all of us, without regard to race or skin color. Don’t forget, the Abolitionist movement ran a quarter million strong, and was both black and white. Don’t forget, over two million Americans fought on the Union side of the Civil War, and 360,000 of them lost their lives. Celebrating the end of slavery should not be partisan or racial - it should be national and universal.

Sadly, I saw things like "why do we need another holiday?” “fake holiday,” “annoying,” "why do they get a special day?," and "Ackshually, slavery didn't really end on 6/19/1865," to mention a few.

As to the date, the Declaration wasn't signed on July 4, and Jesus Christ wasn't born on December 25, so, if you're of a mind to voice that quibble, just, please, stop, and realize not only does that not matter, it telegraphs a pettiness and a resistance to what should be universally celebrated.

Would you take issue if it were on January 1 (signing of the Emancipation Proclamation), or January 31 (Thirteenth Amendment passed by Congress), or December 6 (Thirteenth Amendment ratified), or April 9 (when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox)?

As to the others, I blame the nation's polarization along political and identity (but I repeat myself) lines. We've grown so used to thinking in terms of groups, no matter whether we embrace or reject identity politics, that something perceived to be "of" or "for" another group elicits a knee-jerk contrarianism.

Even when it's not warranted.

This is unfortunate evidence that the societal destroyers, the people who've been working for decades to undermine the progress in living standards, societal liberalism, and harmony that are the "Blessings of Liberty" referred to in the Preamble to the US Constitution, have succeeded.

When even the people who loudly reject the critical theorists, the cancelers, the identitarians, and the other leftist cancers think tribally rather than individually, and fall prey to the zero-sum fallacies the Left loves to use as divisive wedges.

There's a problem on today’s Right, in that it responds to what I'll call "groupism" with its own groupism. It's lizard-brain stuff, an "us vs them" simplification, and it results in such disappointments as the skepticism toward and mockery of Juneteenth.

If you had a gut-check moment of "anti" regarding Juneteenth, I do urge you to revisit it. And, more broadly, to tamp down any tribalistic responses to things that groups that are not "yours" might embrace. The only way a society advances is in harmony and in embracing good common causes, and I can't think of a better one than celebrating the end of slavery.