No. 4.0: Juneteenth feels bittersweet
By now we all know that Juneteenth is now recognized as a US Federal holiday. The bill went before the Senate and House of Representatives earlier this week. It passed in both the Senate and House before it went off for signature by President Joe Biden. I imagined the Schoolhouse Rock characterization of a legislative bill as a cartoon sulking through the chambers waiting to become a law. Well at least that is how I felt.
Some may call this a victory. However I must admit that I am struggling with Juneteenth being a federally paid holiday. (Im not going to bother to get into the holiday being named Juneteenth National Independence Day. The nerve!) The passing of the bill moved swiftly but yet we are still waiting on progress for both the Justice for Breonna Taylor Act and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Both introduced in the summer of 2020. Further more anti-lynching bills have been introduced since the early 1900s and have yet to be passed into legislation. The Emmitt Till Antilynching bill was introduced in January 2019 and yet we still wait. Why do we have to explain that lynching is wrong, immoral and inhumane in a country that constantly proclaims it’s the “Land of the Free”. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Lets not forget police brutality, white vigilantes, housing inequalities and the push back on the concept of Critical Race Theory that has folks in unresolved debates. These are all nuisances in our daily lives. So the passing of the bill this week feels bittersweet.
Then there are the benefits that come with a federal holiday. With Juneteenth being a federally recognized holiday, many Americans will now have a paid day off. Yes racists, bigots, Capital rioters, those who play the good old boy game in the workplace, those who ignore police brutality, employers who discriminate against Black employees, those who are against affirmative action, (I mean the list goes on) will now have a paid day off at the expense of the struggles and sacrifices of the Black community. Once again we have to share our achievements. The Black community has been celebrating Juneteenth for years. Long before many of us knew there was such a celebration. It’s been a part of our cultural framework. With or without a federal holiday we were going to celebrate.
I’m already over the blanket work emails that simply state that Juneteenth is a day to celebrate the end of slavery.This is misleading. It’s the day that enslaved Black people in Galvaston, Texas were informed of their “emancipation”. This was two years AFTER the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. The one liner is a clear indication that further research to understand the importance of Juneteenth was not conducted. I didn’t have high expectations anyways. It just feels disingenuine. Of course it’s performative. We celebrate Juneteenth to honor our ancestors and the magically wonderful things that make us brilliant and royal.
The American slavery system may have been abolished but laws were most certainly put in place to still keep the Black community entrapped in a system that did not want us to progress. Lets not forget the recent 100 year anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre. Tulsa, Oklahoma was a thriving Black community in the early 1900s that was full of Black businesses, Black families, Black schools and Black professionals that was bombed by the neighboring white community on May 31, 1921. This was all due to an assumed assault of a white woman. Also reference the MOVE bombing in Philadelphia in 1985 and the Wilmington coup in 1898. All occurred AFTER 1865.
I would be remise if I didn’t address the comments of “Well they have July 4th and we all get that day off too”. Well the problem with that is that the history and intent of both of these holidays is NOT the same. White people already had their freedom on July 4, 1776. They just wanted more. Those who dissented from Great Britain wanted to establish a government of their own. In which they did. On land that wasn’t theirs to claim by the way. (Christopher Columbus DID NOT discover America.) They weren’t forced to leave their homeland. They did not lose their culture, language nor forcibly separated from their family. They were not shackled in chains nor was religion that was not their own forced upon them. In fact, the 13 colonies financially and agriculturally were built by enslaved Africans. Our Black ancestors were enslaved on July 4, 1776. It is not a day of celebration for us. The significance of the American flag is not the same for all. White people continued to have their freedom on June 19, 1865. However it was the end of one dark chapter and the beginning of another for the rest of us. There are not two days of freedom in America.
A part of me doesn’t want to be told “Happy Juneteenth” in the workplace because I know the conversations behind closed doors would express otherwise. I can only imagine the EEO complaints and Human Resource nightmares that will ensue now that employers have to acknowledge the day. In turn, I know WE DESERVE ALL OF THE PRAISE, ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, ACCOLADES, HONORS AND PAID DAYS OFF. It’s owed to us. It’s long over due. Unfortunately it’s a reminder that we have to share this day at a time where we are still trying to make sense of our lack of freedoms. I understand it’s a day to educate people about Juneteenth. However it only works if allies genuinely want to know about its significance and be a part of implementing reform. I am not open to discussing Juneteenth so employers don’t have to do the work themselves. They are on their own with this one. In the past, I was down for putting together a Black History Month program. Shoot we celebrated Juneteenth in 2018 in the workplace. Yet everyone was silent during all of the rioting and videos of my people being killed last year. It exhausted me. We are not a check in the box.
In the end, I’m continuing with my Juneteenth celebration. However it will be with mixed emotions.
