Dr. Rosalyn | Everything Ain't for Everybody (or let us have Juneteenth one more year before you let loose)

I know folks are probably elated that we have a new federal holiday even if they are literally just learning about it and why it was an unofficial holiday for 150 years before they knew it existed.  Be excited but be respectful.  You don't know a lot yet and it is apparent in the things that I have seen over the last week.  

These won't be in any particular order but are all problems for ME, potentially not anyone else so keep that in mind, but for ME and MY family we have had the following reactions to this rampant and not altogether wanted attention on Juneteenth:

• A New York Times article telling you what to make for Juneteenth.  Maybe they do that somewhere in honor of their version of Juneteenth but I have literally only seen one recipe from that list in regular rotation in the 40 plus years I've been alive to celebrate Juneteenth.  Nope I'm not gonna say which one--in general don't use that list it's trash.
• A comment on said post saying that Americans need to know what to serve as we celebrate.  Record scratch.  This is not fully an American holiday no matter what congress has done.  We wouldn't need it if Black people had ever been embraced as Americans and not have to create our own culture within this broader culture to protect ourselves and share our history with each other.I know this is headed the way of Cinco De Mayo and St. Patrick's Day which makes me itch but if you aren't going to invest in the history you shouldn't be planning to serve me or any other Black person you know a meal.  I come from a community that can weaponize Bless Your Heart and still sound super polite.
  
• An academic press pushing their Black experience titles to celebrate Juneteenth.  To be clear, one of my colleagues did mention there's a new book specifically out on Juneteenth that you should maybe cop, read quietly, sit with what you have learned and then ask questions offline later.
  
• Several people, outlets, associations calling today the 156th celebration of Juneteenth.  Y'all we couldn't celebrate Juneteenth for a while because nothing upsets racists systems more than Black joy.  Today is the 156th anniversary of Juneteenth.  You may even call it the 156th commemoration of Juneteenth but it most definitely not the 156th celebration.  
• The speed with which this finally took place even though it had been lobbied for over decades is troubling because it's really just a distraction.  Over the course of the last year the bill stalled at least once, but suddenly people who have agreed on literally nothing for a decade plus wholesale rush it through in less than a week.  It's a distraction and hollow and doesn't actually do anything to protect the people it allegedly means to honor.  While people are all excited about another paid day off this is what is left festering:
• Anti-Lynching bill when we know we have seen a number of these over the last few years that a ridiculous number of police departments initially called suicides even though there was literally no way for a few of them to have hung themselves in the way they were hung.
• Voting rights BILLS as in multiple, John Lewis and For the People, that would protect all of the potentially disenfranchised folks.
• Police reform bills that would also protect all of us.
• Reparations bills--tidbit for you.  Slave owners were compensated for their loss of labor and then set up systems that were just slavery under a different name.  The labor force was never compensated even though they were promised 40 acres and a mule for their servitude.  Even those that got that payout had it taken back in vicious and conniving ways.
• Student loan reform which again benefits all of us.
  
•  It's also hollow because we have seen an Anti-Asian hate crime bill rapidly pass while those previous bills have just lingered.  This isn't to say the Anti-Asian hate crime bill wasn't needed but it is frustrating to see your community passed over in the most profound ways to be given a sticker for hanging out later.

• Different companies suddenly having Juneteenth statements, sales, menus, what have you pop up.  It's okay to not be ready this year.  It might even be appreciated because doing it wrong is not a good look and you haven't had time to prepare I know it and you know.

My brother messaged me a few days ago and asked why people were suddenly interested in Juneteenth and I told him as I mentioned earlier its deflection.  From both racism and incompetence.  Cornyn being a bill sponsor irked my spirit.  I am sad for Texas that he is one of their options.  And ensures I'm not rushing back home right now.  If there's a harmful ism he hasn't perpetrated please let me know.  And just this week as my friends and relatives struggle through more unregulated grid management he asked why we couldn't just move earth a smidge to you know decrease demand because we wouldn't be so hot.  He mentioned during his promotion of the bill that it had been a state holiday for 40 plus years.  What he didn't mention, was for the most part the only people that recognized it were Black and we did it within our communities with not a whole lot of outside guests.  We still had to burn personal or vacation days to participate in activities on the 19th and we were good with that and the privacy.  And that may be my biggest issue with a federal holiday.  People are interested but I don't know that they are committed to really understanding.  Much like saying Happy Memorial Day sounds odd to me Happy Juneteenth sounds even crazier.  Freedom is good and I'm sure the formerly enslaved were glad to be free but I can't say there was more joy than there was anger that they had been abused again by a system that has spent its entire existence telling you that you don't belong until NOW.  The very state that birthed this holiday will probably see teachers suspended or fired for accurately portraying why it exists.  I'm happy to be within my community on Juneteenth but I'm not sure that I'm happy the day was necessary.  So yeah give us a minute if some of us are reluctant to come to your festivities or share information with you.  This is jarring and unpleasant for me and I have had a good time the last few years sharing about Juneteenth locally and somewhat on a small scale.  This steamroller into commodification is making me decidedly unhappy on Juneteenth.