I truly believe that because of our shameful history of slaves in southern United States, that various pockets throughout the south have never been able to evolve from having a negative way of interpreting people of different color. There are some racist motherfuckers in this country. Unashamed of it, proud of it racists. The very fact that people still view others with disdain because of skin color is one of the more deplorable things people do in today’s society. I guess 150 years after the fact isn’t enough time to weed out enough racists.
I understand why a day like today would be celebrated, but it just makes me feel like shit that a day like “emancipation of slaves day” even exists.
Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19, is the name given to emancipation day by African-Americans in Texas. On that day in 1865 Union Major-General Gordon Granger read General Orders, No.3 to the people of Galveston. It stated
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”
Large celebrations on June 19 began in 1866 and continued regularly into the early 20th century. The African-Americans treated this day like the Fourth of July and the celebrations contained similar events. In the early days, the celebration included a prayer service, speakers with inspirational messages, reading of the emancipation proclamation, stories from former slaves, food, red soda water, games, rodeos and dances.
The celebration of June 19 as emancipation day spread from Texas to the neighboring states of Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. It has also appeared in Alabama, Florida, and California as African-American Texans migrated.
In many parts of Texas, ex-slaves purchased land, or “emancipation grounds,” for the Juneteenth gathering. Examples include: Emancipation Park in Houston, purchased in 1872; what is now Booker T. Washington Park in Mexia; and Emancipation park in East Austin.
Celebration of Juneteenth declined during World War II but revived in 1950 at the Texas State Fair Grounds in Dallas. Interest and participation fell away during the late 1950’s and 1960’s as attention focused on expansion of freedom for African-Americans. In the 1970’s Juneteenth revived in some communities. For example, in Austin the Juneteenth celebration returned in 1976 after a 25 year hiatus. House Bill no.1016 passed in the 66th Legislature, Regular Session, declared June 19, “Emancipation Day in Texas,” a legal state holiday effective January 1, 1980. Since that time, the celebration of Juneteenth continues across the state of Texas with parades, picnics and dancing.
That’ll get ya reaallll far in life.
Even if that previous article on Joel Osteen scared the living shit out of a handful of these people, it’d be well worth it. Pretty funny actually. But if you can’t tell the site is “JoelOstenMinistries” then you deserve to be pranked. I can only listen to him talk for no more than 3 minutes at a time. He is so full of shit but sounds great talking about it. It’s a skill that’s for sure. Or he is completely mental and thinks god is that involved in his life to this grandiose level. He “chooses to focus on the good of god” sounds a lot to me like, “I don’t want to talk about all the bad stuff. Let’s not talk about the bad stuff. Yay good times. Praise god.”
Oh yeah and one more thing. Go to this website and look at how they have formatted the donation options. Interesting. Really interesting…
http://www.joelosteen.com/Pages/Give.aspx
Fucking thieves.
![thepoliticalfreakshow:
Most Elaborate Hoax of the Day: Unbelievably Good Hoaxer Fools Entire Internet Into Thinking That Megachurch Pastor Joel Osteen Has “Rejected Christ” Due To “Lack of Hard Evidence”
It may take a leap of faith to fall for a news article claiming that powerful megachurch pastor Joel Osteen has resigned his post citing a “lack of faith,” but more than a few True Believers were willing to give a prankster the benefit of the doubt when they stumbled upon a fake letter of resignation supposedly penned by Osteen himself.
But the fake article, which was posted on a hoax website (compare with the original), which was linked to by a parody Twitter account, which was promoted by a bogus YouTube video was apparently realistic enough to briefly make “joel osteen” a trending topic on Twiter as thousands searched for confirmation that Lakewood Church leader had truly “converted” to atheism.
Perhaps there was something about the “special message from Pastor Joel” that just seemed true enough to enough people:
As many of you may know, and may have heard in the news recently, many of my sermons have deviated from traditional Christian doctrine. I have been accused of altering the ‘message’ to fit my own doctrine and dogma. Others have accused me of preaching ‘feel good Christianity’. I have also been accused of profiting greatly from my ministry, with my books and television deals. Many of their criticisms are legitimate. […]
No God worth believing in is going to send you to Hell for not believing in him. Not even the worst sinner and scum of the Earth deserves eternal torment in Hell. In fact, God is more likely to congratulate you upon entering Heaven for doubting, questioning and not believing the religionists and their flimsy facts, demands of blind faith and lack of hard evidence.
No wonder RumorFix called this hoax “the most elaborate one we’ve ever seen.”
Though the real Pastor Joel has yet to issue a formal denial of the claims made by the hoaxer/s, a church representative told the Houston Chronicle that Lakewood officials were aware of the “false rumor.”
But has the damage (if one can call it that) been done? It seems the veracity of the “good news” is still being debated among Osteen’s followers.
“I took the Joel Osteen tweet down because I don’t know if it is true or false,” wrote Twitter user @TruthSeekuh. “BUT if you are a fan of his, watch him closely.”
[screengrab via Joel Osteen Ministries]
A few months old but it’s still funny.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/c82f4c655d8912092977db9b05c580a6/tumblr_mkyke5Rmtv1qjo9duo1_500.jpg)
Most Elaborate Hoax of the Day: Unbelievably Good Hoaxer Fools Entire Internet Into Thinking That Megachurch Pastor Joel Osteen Has “Rejected Christ” Due To “Lack of Hard Evidence”
It may take a leap of faith to fall for a news article claiming that powerful megachurch pastor Joel Osteen has resigned his post citing a “lack of faith,” but more than a few True Believers were willing to give a prankster the benefit of the doubt when they stumbled upon a fake letter of resignation supposedly penned by Osteen himself.But the fake article, which was posted on a hoax website (compare with the original), which was linked to by a parody Twitter account, which was promoted by a bogus YouTube video was apparently realistic enough to briefly make “joel osteen” a trending topic on Twiter as thousands searched for confirmation that Lakewood Church leader had truly “converted” to atheism.
Perhaps there was something about the “special message from Pastor Joel” that just seemed true enough to enough people:
As many of you may know, and may have heard in the news recently, many of my sermons have deviated from traditional Christian doctrine. I have been accused of altering the ‘message’ to fit my own doctrine and dogma. Others have accused me of preaching ‘feel good Christianity’. I have also been accused of profiting greatly from my ministry, with my books and television deals. Many of their criticisms are legitimate. […]
No God worth believing in is going to send you to Hell for not believing in him. Not even the worst sinner and scum of the Earth deserves eternal torment in Hell. In fact, God is more likely to congratulate you upon entering Heaven for doubting, questioning and not believing the religionists and their flimsy facts, demands of blind faith and lack of hard evidence.
No wonder RumorFix called this hoax “the most elaborate one we’ve ever seen.”
Though the real Pastor Joel has yet to issue a formal denial of the claims made by the hoaxer/s, a church representative told the Houston Chronicle that Lakewood officials were aware of the “false rumor.”
But has the damage (if one can call it that) been done? It seems the veracity of the “good news” is still being debated among Osteen’s followers.
“I took the Joel Osteen tweet down because I don’t know if it is true or false,” wrote Twitter user @TruthSeekuh. “BUT if you are a fan of his, watch him closely.”
[screengrab via Joel Osteen Ministries]
A few months old but it’s still funny.
Updated previous Super Moon post courtesy of the Science Llama. It’s even cooler than before :)
Well that’s encouraging…
