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SUNDAY. JUNE 16.1968Ringing The BeilWITHBOB TIEUELH-Tl-ritla-uearveJuneteenth {June 19) clebra-lion is gradually fading out asa “big day1’ for black peopleed in Texas. Even in West Texasthere is a tendency to “forget it”, especially among the younger set. If there is the be “a celebration0 in Odessa or elsewhere in West Texas this correspondent hasn’t heard about it. So it seems that ti 3 19th of June which has alwavs been mostly a Texas day for black people will join the relics o! an age that was. Nonetheless there are those who will remember the day with fond memories when we got off that day with pay and “we had a helluva good time,” one old timer told me. If the day came on Sunday for example, the observance would be Monday. Often times there were family reunions and bar-b-ques, picnics and beer and whisky parties for those who wanted to celebrate.Some six years ago or more we remember perhaps the last official June 19 celebration in San Angelo .It was sponsored by the colored ministerial association of the city. Hundreds of pounds of bar-b-que beef, pork and chicken had been donated by some of the wealthy white ^ranchers of the area and there“ was plenty of red lemonade and goodies for all of us preachers and laymen who attended. There was speeches and prayers and thanksgiving for “the Lord has brought us a mighty long way”. The young people criticized the 19th celebration that year severely but they ate the barbe-que cheerfully. We oowwggfffhope it is followed through.It was on June 19, 1865 that General Gordon Granger landed at Galveston to take command of federal occupation troops in Texas at the end of the Civil War. Upon landing, Granger an-nounced: “In accordance with a proclamation by the executive of the United States (Abe Lincoln who had issued theProclamation Jan. I, 1865) allNegroes are free”. The old story goes that Texas was so big that it took about six monthsfor the news of the signing toreach the blacks in the state.From an El Paso reader, wereceived the following letter in part: Dear Bob — The very God you profess to believe in was the author of this thing we call discrimination. His first act of discrimination was aimed at woman who he subjected to the will of man. . . He then discriminated against the other nations of the world by making the Jews His chosen people .. . He encouraged discrimination among mankind by equipping his children with different colored skins, different facial features and different physical' expression.. . . Bear this in mind — A good God would never have practiced the art of discrimination. Neither would He have endowed his children with the propensity for hating each other. Remember this—Discrimination will endure as long as there are fools willing to believe in the Bible God. Signed. Rt Reverend Alan Douglass — El^ ___________ ______w Paso’s only Atheist Bishop-617que cheerfully. We too shall i Sierra Street El Paso, Texas miss the 19th as my wife is;—• 79903. a bom and bred Texan. * * *Several national organizations j if some Christian reader of black moderates like the [would like to answer the bishop, NAA-CP and the Urban League j we would appreciate a copy of and a number of church groups i the reply. And until next week, of oar people are pushing plans I God bless you and God love to make June 19 a National!you and you and you and thirty. Holiday. It would be something!* like a National Solidarity Day.'It would be a day in which people (American) of al Iraces, ethnic groups, religons and political beliefs would renew their faith, dedication and commitment to the principles and eternal truths o? justice and equality under the iaw and which has made America, the last stronghold of Democracy on earth. II would be a day in which we would be neitherCloud SeedingDevice Hakesam Or SnowDENVER, Colo. (AP) — A Montreal engineer says his firm has developed a cloud seeding device that produces rain or... _______ ......... _ ....... snow rather than increasingJew nor Greek nor Gentile nor [precipitation as cloud seeding White nor Black, by a Day we has done in the past, would Think and be just Bernard A. Power, president American. We buy the idea and of Weather Engineering Corp.of America, based at Washington, D.C., described the method
Newspaper Details
Odessa American
Odessa, Texas, US
Sun, Jun 16, 1968
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Denton P.
TX, USA 21 Dec 2021
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Odessa American
