[As Black men in prison, we live the tension between celebrating
the abolition of slavery and struggling inside the system that
replaced it. ]
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WHAT JUNETEENTH LOOKS LIKE FOR PRISONERS  
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Antoine Davis and Darrell Jackson
June 16, 2023
Waging Nonviolence
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_ As Black men in prison, we live the tension between celebrating the
abolition of slavery and struggling inside the system that replaced
it. _

Prison bars, by Fernando Silveira (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

 

Juneteenth is a bittersweet day for us — and all Black people in
prison holding onto the promise of freedom.

Let’s start with history. The Emancipation Proclamation — issued
by Abraham Lincoln on Sept. 22, 1862, during the American Civil War
— declared that all slaves in the Confederacy would be “forever
free.” Unfortunately, that freedom didn’t extend to the four
slaveholding states not in rebellion against the Union, and the
proclamation was of course ignored by the Confederate states in
rebellion. For the roughly 4 million people enslaved, Lincoln’s
declaration was symbolic; only after the Civil War ended was the
proclamation enforced.

But even the end of the fighting in April 1865 didn’t immediately
end slavery everywhere. As the Union Army took control of more
Confederate territory during the war, Texas became a safe haven for
slaveholders. Finally, on June 19, Union Gen. Gordon Granger rode into
Galveston and issued General Order No. 3, announcing freedom for those
enslaved. There were about 250,000 slaves in Texas when it became the
last state to release African American bodies from the cruelest
institution known to American history. By the end of that year, the
13th Amendment abolished slavery, mostly (more on that later).

DARRELL JACKSON: MY UNDERSTANDING OF JUNETEENTH DEVELOPED IN PRISON

In the early 2000s, prisoners at Washington State Penitentiary
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Walla Walla decided to hold a Juneteenth celebration. Because the
Department of Corrections, or DOC, didn’t treat the day as special,
Black prisoners used the category of “African American Cultural
Event” (which was typically used to celebrate Black History Month)
as a platform to celebrate Juneteenth. The spirit of liberation moved
through the incarcerated population, motivating other prison
facilities across the state to follow suit.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE
 Inside the prisoner-led struggle to win education for all
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It seems hard to believe, but prior to my incarceration, I knew
nothing about Juneteenth. I had taken classes that included American
history, but the event apparently wasn’t part of my school’s
curriculum. I first heard about that history from other prisoners at
Clallam Bay Correction Center, where I was incarcerated in 2009, and
that prompted me to learn more about the ways that African Americans
mark Juneteenth.

By the time I had entered the prison system, Black prisoners had
expanded the celebration to include family, friends and community
members, creating an opportunity for prisoners to connect with loved
ones in ways that regular visiting did not permit. We were able to
choose what foods we ate and provide our own entertainment, using
creative ways to communicate inspiring messages to the African
American prison population and their families.

One memorable moment for me came in June 2012. The Black Prisoners
Caucus was hosting the event, which had not happened since 2007, and a
friend and I were asked to perform a few songs. It was my first vocal
performance, and I was extremely nervous. When we finished, my
friend’s 7-year-old daughter shouted from the audience, “Daddy,
they killed it!” Though I didn’t have any family present at the
event, that little girl’s endorsement etched a long-lasting smile on
my heart. Her words had become a soothing balm in the face of the
stress, self-doubt, depression and anger I had felt as a prisoner
throughout that year.

It’s important for the world to know that Juneteenth holds great
significance for the Black bodies who are locked away in prison. But
we shouldn’t forget that the 13th Amendment abolished slavery and
involuntary servitude, “except as a punishment for crime whereof the
party shall have been duly convicted.” For the men and women who are
Black and in prison, that exception connects us to our ancestors who
were in chains long ago.

ANTOINE DAVIS: THE CONFLICT OF CELEBRATING FREEDOM WHILE IN CHAINS

I can only imagine the effect that June 19, 1865, had on the souls of
those trapped in the most barbaric institution in American history.
The hope for freedom, passed down from one generation to another, had
finally come to pass. Tears from Black faces must have run like
rivers, not from the pains of a master’s lashes but from the joy of
knowing that one’s momma and daddy, sons and daughters, family and
friends would no longer live in bondage.

Such images of joy have run through my mind as I have celebrated
Juneteenth with Black families and white families, all occupying the
same space in the prison’s visiting room. While our loved ones laugh
and dance, eat and rejoice, the truth about what we celebrate creates
for me a tension between joy and grief. The joy comes from recognizing
how far we’ve come as a people. The grief comes from the reminder
that while chattel slavery was abolished, a new form continues in a
prison system that incarcerates African American people at an alarming
rate.

Prisoners aren’t the only people who understand the injustice. For
several decades, activists and academics have developed an analysis
called “Thirteentherism,” which argues that the 13th Amendment
created constitutional protection for the brutal convict-leasing
system that former Confederate states created after Reconstruction and
which evolved into today’s system of racialized mass incarceration.

Here’s just one statistic of many: In Washington state, 33 percent
of prisoners serving a sentence longer than 15 years for an offense
committed before their 25th birthday are Black. Blacks make up 4.3
percent of the state’s population.

The statistics that demonstrate the racialized disparities in prisons
make me think of Devontae Crawford, who at the age of 20 was sentenced
to 35 years in prison. Although he committed a crime with three white
friends, Devontae ended up with more time than all his crime partners
put together. Today, all three of them are free, and Devontae still
has 30 years left to do in prison.

One of my closest friends, who asked to remain anonymous, also comes
to mind. He was sentenced to 170 years in prison after his white
friend shot a man during an altercation. Although his friend admitted
to being the gunman, this prisoner remains incarcerated while his
white friend was released after serving seven years.

JACKSON AND DAVIS: STILL SLAVES TO THE SYSTEM

As Black men in prison, we live the tension between celebrating the
abolition of slavery and struggling inside the criminal justice system
that replaced slavery. We prisoners who are left to deteriorate inside
one of America’s most inhumane systems are able to find joy in
celebrating Juneteenth, but not without indignities.

For example, a number of us were told by the DOC that prisoners would
have to pay an estimated $1,500 for this year’s Juneteenth
celebration — $500 for food, not including the cost to our guests,
and $1,000 to pay for additional guards. Juneteenth became a national
holiday in 2021, and DOC officials decided that African American
prisoners should cover the overtime and holiday pay for the extra
guards deemed to be necessary for us to celebrate Juneteenth with our
children.

That’s a lot of money for any working folks, but consider what it
means for people who make 42 cents an hour, maxing out at $55 a month.
No matter what the job in prison, that’s our DOC wage. This means
that if we African American prisoners want to include our children in
celebrating the historical meaning behind June 19, we will be forced
to give the prison facility 3,600 hours of labor. The irony is hardly
subtle: Prisoners in Washington state who work at near-slave wages
will have to pay to celebrate a day that represents freedom.

We live with this injustice, but we African American prisoners find a
way to maintain joy in the face of adversity. It’s never easy to
cope with the social conditions that are designed to diminish
prisoners’ sense of their own value, but we keep on keeping on. If
our ancestors were able not only to survive but also sometimes thrive
in the face of enslavers’ disregard for their humanity, so can we.
Something as simple as a 7-year-old girl shouting encouragement after
a Juneteenth performance can be enough to keep us going.

African American prisoners have learned to embrace all the positives,
celebrating freedom when we can while living in modern-day chains.

_Antoine Davis [[link removed]],
34, is a licensed minister at Freedom Church of Seattle currently
incarcerated at Washington Correction Center, serving a 63-year
sentence. He is Co-Chair of BPC TEACH, where he facilitates
relationships with various colleges and Fabians Funds (an organization
that funds every BPC TEACH student's college tuition) to help
incarcerated men at Washington Correction Center receive a college
education. His writing has been published in Counterpunch, The Appeal,
Your Teen Magazine, and many other outlets. He is currently in the
process of self publishing his first book, "Building Blocks," a
curriculum that was created to help young men overcome past trauma and
some of the more common challenges that keep them from living a
successful life. Follow Antoine on Twitter at @AntoineEDavis
[[link removed]]._

_Darrell Jackson
[[link removed]], 36, is a
member of the Black Prisoners Caucus, Co-Chair of T.E.A.C.H (Taking
Education and Creating History) and a writer through Empowerment
Avenue. He is a student, mentor, and social justice advocate who is
currently serving a life without the possibility of parole sentence at
Washington Corrections Center. For more information, contact him at
securustech.net Darrell Jackson#329268_

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* Juneteenth
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* Prisons
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* U.S. prison population
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* state prison population
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* racial inequality
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