Opinion

New Year’s Day is Also Emancipation Day

Published

6 years ago

January 3, 2019

Our nation must fulfill the hopes unleashed by the Emancipation Proclamation

“Then Moses said to the people, ‘Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand.’” — Exodus: 13:3.
African-American churches across the country, congregants gather to welcome the new year. They sing songs of freedom and overcoming. They testify to how far their faith has brought them and how much faith and courage they will need to face another year.
The tradition is called Watch Night, and it dates back 156 years to when President Abraham Lincoln set forth an essential document of freedom that most Americans have probably never read or thought much about: the Emancipation Proclamation.
The night before the proclamation went into effect on Jan. 1, 1863, free blacks in the North and their enslaved brothers and sisters in the South sat vigil in churches, in shabby slave shacks and in moonlit plantation woods to watch, pray and hope throughout the night to hear news that Lincoln’s promises of freedom had been officially issued and millions of our ancestors were legally free.
The president kept his word — although two more years of slaughter and civil war lay ahead. African-Americans emerged from that long night of waiting and watching with the right to pick up arms and join the military struggle to save the Union as soldiers and aboard “vessels of all sorts.” The proclamation declared that those enslaved in the Confederacy were now “forever free,” and the might of the United States government, “including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”
The proclamation was the most consequential executive order in the history of the United States. It should be celebrated and honored.
For every American who cherishes freedom and democracy, New Year’s Day should mean far more than college bowl games and parades. The nation must revive and reclaim the true meaning and significance of January 1, Emancipation Day.
This January 1 is even more significant in that the year 2019 marks the 400th anniversary of the first documented African slaves’ forced arrival on the shores of the New World that was to become the United States of America. This anniversary year should be a time of commemoration and celebration, reflection — and action — on how far we have come and how far we must still travel to reach the mountaintop.
The journey from slavery to freedom was largely completed in 1865 with the adoption of the 13th Amendment. The march from freedom to equality is far from over.
I spent Christmas morning — as I have for more than 40 years — visiting and praying with the inmates and staff at Cook County Jail, the sprawling warehouse of the poor and dispossessed on the West Side of Chicago. As I looked out over the faces crowded into the jail’s gym, I saw that they were overwhelmingly black and brown.
Although African-Americans make up just 24 percent of the population of Cook County, nearly 74 percent of the jail’s population is black.
This story of inequality was four centuries in the making. It began in August 1619, when some 20 frightened, bewildered and beleaguered Africans arrived in Jamestown, Va., as prizes that had been pirated from Spanish ships on the open seas.
Even as revolutionary Americans rebelled against the British monarchy, declaring all men created equal, the founding fathers at the Constitutional Convention bowed to the South with three slave compromises that still haunt our nation: permitting the international slave trade; counting slaves as three-fifths of a person for congressional representation; and establishing the Electoral College, giving the South congressional representation disproportionate to its voter eligibility.
Yet in the darkness of chattel slavery, the enslaved were able to sustain enough of their humanity to maintain a light of hope for a better day, for freedom and for equality. African- Americans were able to see the dimly lit outlines of a more just social, economic and political order, even during slavery, apartheid and centuries of discrimination. But black people did not wait for freedom to fall from the sky. The Colonial era and beyond bristled with slave rebellions and resistance.
The lies, myths and insanity of white supremacy contaminated the soil and the soul of America. The Academy said African-American minds were inferior. The medical establishment said our bodies were inferior; the church, our morality. The banks determined that we were unworthy for loans or investment. These barriers have yet to be completely broken down. We are free but unequal. Yet still we rise.
History is an unbroken continuity that cannot be denied. Americans should not hide from the past nor engage in an extended exercise of rehashing 400 tragic years. Although there can be no plan for the future without comprehending the past, we cannot go forward while only looking backward.
2019 must be about the vision of a fully equal society.
In the coming year, we must set goals and a timetable for the most profound and in-depth corrective action program in history and show what true equality for all Americans means and looks like.
We must examine how much such repair will cost, what failure to repair has already cost, and the continuing cost to the nation in terms of human and economic underdevelopment if we fail to even the playing field for African-Americans and other people of color.
In 2020, there will be another presidential election. As the candidates campaign in the next two years, they must be challenged to share their vision of what an equal, nondiscriminatory, multiracial, multiethnic, multi-religious and nonsexist society looks like, and how they propose to take us there.
In the meantime, we the people — red, brown, yellow, black and white — must do what African-Americans have done for 400 years, from bondage to emancipation, from lynch mobs to great migrations, from the back of the bus to Rosa Parks, from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis to President Barack Obama on the balcony of the White House.
Keep hope alive.
Jesse L. Jackson Sr. (@ RevJJackson) is the founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

Jesse L. Jackson Sr.

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Alameda County

Council Approves Budget to Invest in Core City Services, Save Fire Stations, Invest in Economic Development

I am most proud of our ability to fund these critical city services without the use of one-time fixes. We are still suffering the consequences of last year’s budget, where a majority of the Council, myself not included, chose to incorporate anticipated proceeds from the sale of the Coliseum to fund essential services. Since the sale has still not yet been completed, the lack of funds led to drastic cuts in city services, including the temporary closure of fire stations, staff layoffs, and the cancellations of many service contracts.

Published

1 day ago

June 14, 2025

Oakland Post

District 4 Oakland City Councilmember Janani Ramachandran. Photo courtesy City of Oakland.

By Janani Ramachandran, District 4 Oakland City Councilmember

On Wednesday, June 11, City Council took a bold step to prioritize investing in essential city services to get our beautiful Town back on track. As Chair of the Finance Committee, I am proud to have led a collaborative process, alongside Councilmembers Rowena Brown, Zac Unger, and Charlene Wang, to develop a set of amendments to the proposed FY 2025-2027 budget which passed successfully with a vote of 6 – 1. Despite facing a $265 million structural budget deficit, we were able to restore funding to ensure that all 25 fire stations remain open, fund 5 police academies, invest millions of dollars to combat illegal dumping and sideshow prevention, improve our permitting processes, fund a “business incentives” program to revitalize our commercial corridors, improve upon our homelessness prevention work, amplify the city’s anti-trafficking programs, re-instate our tree services division, staff up our Auditor’s office – all while preventing any layoffs of city staff, keeping our senior centers and after-school programs open, and crisis services like MACRO funded.

Our budget comes in response to the widespread and consistent calls from across Oakland’s diverse communities asking us to prioritize funding solutions to the issues that have most directly impacted our residents’ safety and quality of life. Our priorities are also inspired by our belief that Oakland is on the way not only to financial recovery, but also to global recognition. Oakland can attract and preserve businesses of all sizes with safer, cleaner streets. We can and will have more large-scale festivals that celebrate our culture, concerts that uplift our incredible local musicians, conferences that attract patrons from across the world, and award-winning restaurants that top national charts. We are on our way to rebuilding a thriving economy and having a cultural renaissance will create more jobs for Oaklanders while also generating more revenue for the City through sales and business taxes.

I am grateful for the close partnership with our new Mayor Barbara Lee, and know that she shares our values of ensuring we are prioritizing keeping Oakland’s residents safe, our streets clean, and our businesses prosperous in an open and fiscally responsible manner. I am also thankful to our City Administrator, Jestin Johnson, and former Interim Mayor Kevin Jenkins’ efforts to produce the initial proposal that our Council budget team used as a starting point for our amendments, and for their shared commitment to transparency and ethical government. I am especially grateful for every resident that took the time to make their voice heard throughout this rigorous budget process. I have no doubt that we are on the verge of true change, and that together we will bring Oakland back to being the world-class city I know it can be.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Learning Life’s Lessons

Since his release over five years ago, Richard has committed himself to making a difference, particularly by reaching out to women and families who lack the presence of a father or husband. He knows he cannot undo the years lost behind prison walls, but he is determined to use his past to build a better future for others. His story mirrors that of many who have walked a similar path. Yet, it remains uniquely his own – a testament to the power of change, resilience, and the belief that even from tragedy, something good can emerge.

Published

1 day ago

June 14, 2025

Oakland Post

Richard Johnson and son Fati. Courtesy photo.

“California’s three-strike laws gave me 2 life sentences for drug possession. After serving 28 years, mostly in solitary confinement, I am free to lead a movement to get the formerly incarcerated to give back.”

By Richard Johnson

I have written this book in hopes of being able to help others from not traveling down the path that leads to imprisonment or a cemetery. At the very beginning of writing this book, it began as a message to my son Fati Yero Gaidi, who was only two years old at the time that I was given two life sentences in prison for drug possession, under the newly implemented three-strikes-you-out law. The more that I wrote, the book began to evolve beyond its intended purpose for my son; it became something that any and everyone could utilize on their separate journeys through life challenges that we encounter. The book helped me put my thoughts, reasoning, perceptions, and views on display, while opening doors that, for the most part, were closed. The book can be purchased via Amazon. Learning life lessons.

About the Author

By Post staff

Richard “Razor” Johnson, 74, is a man whose life journey is marked by hard-earned wisdom, redemption, and an unshakable commitment to guiding the next generation. Once sentenced to life under California’s Three Strikes Law, he was released through what he calls nothing short of divine intervention. His time behind bars, particularly in Pelican Bay State Prison, gave him a new raw and unfiltered understanding of life’s hardest truths.

With the realization that time is precious and the future is shaped by the lessons we learn, Richard writes with urgency and purpose. His book—a 300-page labor of love—is dedicated to young men who may not have a father to teach them the meaning of life’s most important words. Through definitions filled with wisdom, experience, and deep personal insight, he offers direction to those who find themselves lost, just as he once was.

His words are not just lessons; they are a call to action. He hopes that by investing in young minds with wisdom and insight, they will be better equipped to navigate life’s trials, learn from their mistakes, and find their path to success. Richard “Razor” Johnson writes not just to be heard, but to help – because he knows firsthand that sometimes guidance can make all the difference.

Post publishers Paul and Gay Cobb visited Johnson in San Quentin and attended his graduation while he was in prison. He became a columnist with the Post News Group and has continued his advocacy for the formerly incarcerated by urging them to “give something back”. Johnson says he will be speaking at prisons, colleges, and media outlets to help organize voter registration and community service projects.