Today is Juneteenth and all day I’ve been debating some of my friends who say Juneteenth is not worth celebrating. Main reason being, that we should have never been enslaved in the first place. A point I used to have myself. I actually used to share the same opinions and views as the friends Ive been debating all morning. But now I see things differently and its not just because we have a Black president ( for real this time ).
I see things differently now because I now realize the power or information and knowledge. Speaking of which, if youre not all the way sure what Juneteenth is about, I invite you to educate your self http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteeth ...

I think what alot of people fail to realize, is that when Black people were enslaved in America, we were not only deprived of our freedom, in the sense that we had no rights, no options, forced to work, we had masters, we were considered sub-human. But the biggest thing our then masters wanted to deny us was education and information. The less you know as a person, the easier you are to control. Its been proven through out time. Also whats been proven through out time, is that information and knowledge is power. Juneteeth is a shining example of that fact. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued in sept 1862 and to take effect jan 1863. Except for the people of the “great” state of texas decided NOT TO TELL or recognize that slaves had been freed for two whole years. On this day, June 19th 1865, the Black people of texas were informed by Union troops that they had been freed two years previous. To put that into perspective. Imagine somebody got two years of free work from you. Not only free work, but it was ok to keep you in bondage against your will. Imagine if you were imprisoned for no reason and forced to work and you could have been released from that situation two years ago… only if you would have known. only if some body would have told you about the new law that was passed. Only if you would have known. Think about all the people that were whipped and didnt have to be. Think about all the work that was done that nobody was paid for. Think about wishing for freedom you really already had but you just didnt know it!

No, I’m not talking about Obama on Jay Leno tonite, Im talking about me ( OJ ) ... well I didnt exactly make the show. It just so happens that I was kinda working with a R&B group at the time. They were in town and asked if I wanted to come to the Tonite show and watch a taping. SURE! Why the hell not ?!?

So here I am sitting there, I didnt know who was gonna be on the show or anything. I just knew who the musical guest was. Were all seated and this comedian guy comes out and cracks a couple of jokes, goes into his whole crowd hype routine to get the audience going and what not. He tells us that Halle Berry and Tim Russert (R.I.P.), SCORE! I wont go into how I felt about Halle being there but I knew who Tim Russert was and I really wanted to watch that interview. Not only that, but I figured this would be the closest I’d EVER get to Halle Berry. Then the comedian guy goes into this thing where we were suppose to practice for Jay to come out and we were suppose to get up and clap and cheer like they do in the beginning of every show. But it was just practice… and well, at the time I kinda felt like Allen Iverson about them and their gotdamn practice applause and hype. I figured I’d stand my black ass up and clap when Jay brought his ass the fuck out! Applause practice my ass.