“Honestly, growing up, I didn’t hear anything about it. Most people didn’t know anything about it,” Ronald T McCain I explained. “That’s why it’s good people are learning about it now.”
What Ronald was speaking about is the Juneteenth holiday; and he is grateful his son RT McCain, the president of the Juneteenth Committee, has been so active with developing the Juneteenth observation in the Poplar Bluff area.
“Honestly, back in the beginning of 2020, I didn’t know about Juneteenth,” RT stated. “That was the year that I had purposed for myself to get everything in my life in order, to move forward with a purpose to help the next generation; and I was aware of different things from our history, like the Tulsa massacre.”
The Tulsa massacre RT referenced is an event also known as the Black Wall Street Massacre, and it took place between May 31 - June 1, 1921, when a racially charged riot broke out in a black neighborhood and saw large swaths of the black population killed while their homes and businesses were destroyed in response to a baseless claim of an African/American individual improperly touching a white woman. The neighborhood was referred to as Black Wall Street due to the fact that the insulated black community was very affluent and experienced their own prospering economy within their neighborhood. It has been long speculated that was one of the motivations for the destruction of the neighborhood. It is reported that at least 300 African/Americans were killed in the riot.
“I was aware of awful parts of black history like that,” RT noted. “There are so many examples of our struggle as a race, and I was familiar with this; but I didn’t know about Juneteenth - the day that represents the complete liberation of black citizens for the entire country.”
RT explained that he was motivated to learn more, so he continued to read and study.
“I learned that for a long period of time, Juneteenth couldn’t be celebrated publicly, so many people had to celebrate privately,” RT explained. “They had to celebrate in private homes on private lands. That’s probably why the date was uncertain for so long, and probably why there were so many different names attributed to the holiday.”
Upon learning more about the historic event, RT decided it was necessary to educate others in order to lift them up. With that decision, the Juneteenth Committee was formed and the first official observation of the holiday was held in 2020.
“I think President Biden making it an official federal holiday in 2020 gave it legitimacy in the eyes of some people,” RT remarked. “So, now, people are curious and they ask more questions. And I think it’s great because I see so many people in this small community getting involved.”
RT said he anticipates this year’s celebration to be the biggest yet.
“We have dozens of different vendors that will be on hand, and we have so many people that want to be involved in so many ways,” RT noted.
“And there will also be a lot of good food,” Ronald remarked.
Same country, different time
“My America started in a two-room schoolhouse,” Ronald explained. “It was a small community and we had to walk everywhere. We walked to school, and the nearest school was a whites only school. So we couldn’t go there. We had to walk even further to our school. We grew up being told to avoid going to certain locations; but we really did live in ignorance of many things.”
Ronald went on to explain that there seemed to be very little to celebrate as an African/American in rural Missouri.
“By the time they integrated the school system, most of the black students were ignored by the faculty,” Ronald recalled. “We didn’t feel the equality they kept telling us that we had.”
Ronald explained that he - and many others like him - had no choice but to simply focus on working hard and moving away to larger areas to try and find better jobs.
“We just did what we had to do,” Ronald noted. “We had our responsibilities just like everyone else. Some jobs were better than others, but we all did what we had to do.”
Ronald went on to explain that we was happy to learn about Juneteenth, and that happiness grew immediately as he watched his son work with other community leaders to bring the holiday into the forefront of the community.
“Now we are able to see multiple opportunities being made available to people of all colors,” Ronald noted. “I won’t say it’s perfect. There are always things to change. But I’m not going to complain. I remember how things were, compared to how they are now; and I’m satisfied.”
“One of the reasons the hours are scheduled the way they are for the celebration is because my research has shown that the average dollar stays in the black community for only a few hours before it’s gone,” RT explained. “So, with the hours we have everything scheduled, that makes it twice the amount of time the dollar stays in the black community. That’s one of the reasons Black Wall Street was so good for its residents, because the dollar stayed there for a long time before going to the bank.”
The festivities will be held at Bacon Park in Poplar Bluff and will begin at 10 a.m., and they will last until at least 6 p.m.
“We’re so excited because we couldn’t see the celebration grow like it has without the involvement from multiple people of all ethnic backgrounds,” RT exclaimed. “That’s what is so exciting: the fact that we truly are coming together and acting as a community in order to celebrate this holiday together.”
“We are commanded as Christians to love everybody,” Ronald explained. “That can be difficult to do sometimes; but you can’t do it all on your own. It must be done through Christ. And that’s what we’re going to focus on doing.”