Free-ish? | 6.20.21

No More Normal

One hundred and fifty-eight years ago, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, putting an end to slavery in the United States. News traveled slowly in those days—no social media to spread the word. But this executive order took an especially long time to get to all corners of the country: two-and-a-half years, in fact. On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, where the last enslaved people were told of their freedoms. From that moment on, African Americans have celebrated June 19 as the end of slavery in their communities, towns and cities. What do they celebrate? Freedom for one. There is also a theme of remembering our ancestors who survived almost unfathomable hardships so that we can be here, today.

How does celebrating emancipation resonate right now with the fight against racist police violence re-ignited? 2021 also marks a century since the Tulsa Massacre. How does that history call to the celebrations of freedom at this moment? On episode 32, we meet some New Mexicans to discover how Juneteenth and its meaning reflects in who they are today—and we talk through what they think about being Black in the Land of Enchantment.

GUESTS:

• Jason Carter - Host, journalist, media personality
• Nichole Rogers - African American Business and Community Liaison - City of Albuquerque
• Melody Wells - Nonprofit fundraiser
• Amir Chapel - Researcher and policy analyst
• Jeron Campbell - Founder and principal, ACES Public Schools
• Siddiq Abdallah - Author and poet

NEXT WEEK: Re-opening is happening, and our lives are getting back to normal. Wait, there is no more normal, right? How can we move on and pick it all back up like nothing happened? More than 600,000 people died in the U.S. And there have been 3.85 million deaths from COVID globally. People lost loved ones and friends. We all lost our old lives. Next time on NoMoNo, we look at the grief we experienced and the transformation that hit us all and ask: How do we do this?

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

• Our guests for sharing their experience, insights and expertise with us.
• Jazztone the Producer, Cheo, Dahm Life, Business School, Sun Dog, and Oh Lawd Records for providing music for the show.
• Khaki, Pope Yesyesyall and Bigawatt produced some of the show’s themes.

*****

No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.

We dedicate this and every episode to the memory of Hannah Colton. We love and miss you Hannah.