Juneteenth is a holiday that honors the African American experience in the United States. More specifically, it is a holiday because, on June 19, 1865, the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. It had already been law at that point for about 2.5 years, but on Juneteenth 1865, the law was applied and slaves were freed.
This year’s Juneteenth celebration is anticipated to be different, a reckoning of the Black lives that have been taken, the systemic racism of America addressed as well as remembering the past change, and needed changes for the future.
This holiday currently has trouble getting recognition as there are several movements to try to have US Congress to make this day a National Holiday as well as some technology companies advancing Congress and issuing the day as a company holiday regardless of the pending national recognition.
For some, this holiday can be confusing in ways that you can personally celebrate and remember. For others, this holiday may inspire feelings of shame and/or the sadness of our Nation’s past and/or personal experiences of racism in America. Neither of these is the intended purpose of Juneteenth though they are not inherently wrong.
Instead, these feelings can be an onramp for you to explore yourself… or to "do the work" during riots and combat against white fragility and injustice in the Black Community (this reference is to white fragility as a concept and not necessarily to the book by Robin DiAngelo. If you wanted for reference, here is the book review I wrote on White Fragility).
Here are 6 questions you can ask yourself (and others) to participate in Juneteenth:
What did you learn growing up about your race/gender/religion/socioeconomic status within society?
What did you learn growing up about other people’s race/gender/religion/socioeconomic status’ within society?
What do you believe today about your race/gender/religion/socioeconomic status within society?
What do you believe other people believe about your race/gender/religion/socioeconomic status within society?
When you think of someone different than you, what do you feel inside? Why?
Are there parts of you that feel strongly about the topic of race/gender/religion/socioeconomic status’ with the United States? If so, what are the emotions and why?
Too Long/Didn’t Read: Juneteenth is coming up. You may not know it, but it is a holiday that is curated to celebrate the release of African Americans as slaves after the Civil War. You also may be wondering how you can participate in this holiday and this post has 6 process questions you can ask yourself and others to get more involved.
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