JUNETEENTH . . .

On June 19, 1865, the people of Texas finally found out that the Confederate army had surrendered two months earlier to the Union troops. The black slaves in Texas were finally freed, and on that day, slavery effectively ended in the United States.

Blacks, and others, in this country commemorate that day, celebrating it as Juneteenth, on the third Saturday of every June. Like Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, the event is meaningful for black Americans. But unlike the MLK holiday, Juneteenth is a day for celebrating life with joy and cheer.

Juneteenth caught my eye because of something Comptroller Bill Thompson mentioned last night at the KALCA dinner: John Liu, the first and only Asian-American New York City Councilperson, is the only member of the one-member Asian Caucus of the City Council. But after he arrived on the Council, the other Council caucuses joined together to form the Black, Hispanic AND Asian Caucus -- a larger coalition of which Liu is a member, and not the ONLY one. As Thompson was telling this story, it occurred to me ... minorities don't know how to play nice anymore. Each group has its own agenda, and for some reason, we assume that the agendas of the different groups can never merge and meld together and be shared. We never assume that the different caucuses can work together, pool resources and manpower, present a unified front. We assume that our respective agendas are in conflict with each other, and that one group's goals can only be met at the expense of the goals of another group. We never assume that slow and steady headway can be more easily made when people work together, instead of trying to edge each other out of the way. To hear that blacks, Hispanics AND the Asian on the City Council are at least MEETING together is an encouraging sign that our leaders, those who represent us, even at such a local level, are changing or trying to change their assumptions. Our goals are the same: civil rights, human rights, social and political activism, raising awareness, training leaders, improving the lives of our citizens. It's idealistic and trite, but that doesn't make it any less true: we can do these things together.

"You'd think the end of slavery would be a holiday for all Americans," says one Juneteenth reveler. You WOULD think, right? So live it up on Saturday, and be thankful that there is a day we can all celebrate together.