NC Plantation Cancels Juneteenth Event Where 'Massa' Would Have Waxed Poetic About the Confederacy

The mayor of Charlotte and other town and county officials have spoken out against the ill-conceived event.

The Historic Latta Plantation in Huntersville, N.C., recently advertised a Juneteenth event that aimed to tell the stories of โ€œwhite refugees,โ€ Confederate soldiers who were sad about losing the Civil War and freed slaves living โ€œhigh on the hogโ€โ€”all from the perspective of an unemployed slave master.

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Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?
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Then, after people swiftly informed the history museum that this was both brazenly racist and a very stupid idea, the event description was deleted Friday.

But the internet doesnโ€™t forget, and neither does the Raleigh News & Observer.

The Observer reports:

โ€œOn its website and on social media, the living history museum promoted the $25 ticketed event, called โ€œKingdom Coming,โ€ which was set to take place starting at 7 p.m. next Saturday, on Juneteenth, a holiday that commemorates the emancipation of slaves in the United States. The event has since been cancelled.โ€

โ€œ... The eventโ€™s description, which didnโ€™t acknowledge the significance of June 19, started with lines from a mournful slave spiritual some scholars say is aligned with the Underground Railroad: โ€˜Swing low, sweet chariot, coming for to carry me home.โ€™โ€

โ€œThe event billing is sympathetic to those who owned slaves in the aftermath of emancipation, and inaccurately minimizes an unnamed slaveowner to an โ€œoverseer,โ€ referring to him as โ€œmassa.โ€ The post on Latta Plantationโ€™s site also refers to โ€œfreedmenโ€ but inexplicably omits that Black people were enslaved in the United States for nearly 250 years. Instead, the museumโ€™s site refers to slaves as โ€œformer bondsmen.โ€

What kind of Django Unchained, Rachael Kirkconnell, alternative facts white nonsense is this? I feel like we really shouldnโ€™t be surprised that an actual plantation that has been transformed into a โ€œliving history museumโ€ is out here intending to commit racist actsโ€“on Juneteenth of all daysโ€“but yet, here we are.

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles commented about the situation on Twitter.

โ€œWe should not support any business or organization that does not respect equality, history, and the truth of the African-American peopleโ€™s journey to freedom,โ€ she said. โ€œDespite intent, words matter. And the Historic Latta Plantation should know better.โ€

WCNC Charlotte reports that Mecklenburg County also denounced the ill-conceived event, saying that county parks and recreation officials didnโ€™t know about the event until it appeared on social media. The county said it is now looking at its contract with the plantation regarding future programming.

The town of Huntersville co-signed Mecklenburg Countyโ€™s zero-tolerance stance on programs that donโ€™t โ€œembrace equity and diversity.โ€ The town announced Friday that it will hold its annual financial contributions to the plantation until investigations โ€œinto the facts surrounding this eventโ€ are done.

https://twitter.com/HuntersvilleGOV/status/1403509125556936705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Neither the Latta Plantation nor the event organizer have issued statements about the debacle as of Saturday morning.

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