This is a pretty late post since I spent most of my day on the road and unpacking (another story for another time) but I didn’t not want to acknowledge Juneteenth!
I’m happy to see this day becoming more widely recognized, and yet I hope it’s meaning remains in tact.
It isn’t the day marking the Emancipation Procalamation. It marks a day two years later when it was finally enacted and enforced in all 50 states- a reminder of how frustratingly slow change can be.
It isn’t a day for non-Black Americans to spend on leisure, but on educating themselves and supporting Black institutions and causes.
It isn’t even a day of celebrating total freedom- because that has yet to be attained. Free-ish is a term I’ve heard more often that sounds more accurate. Racist systems don’t go away easily. More often, they mutate, taking on a different form that’s harder to recognize. With mass incarceration taking the freedoms of so many, there’s still a lot of work to be done!
But Juneteenth is still a very important day.
