For the Black community, June 19th is a celebration of freedom, culture, and history; an ode of sorts to our ancestors. As a Texas native, the significance for me is tied to the enslaved Black people of Galveston, Texas, who were freed by the 13th amendment. For me, this day was the epitome of Black joy. My family would do the electric slide with a plate of BBQ and potato salad in hand. In the past year, others outside of our community begin to acknowledge the significance of June 19th. This day has always been a day to proudly acknowledge our people and history, but this year white America also wants in on our celebration.
On Thursday, President Biden signed into law the “Juneteenth National Independence Day Act” commemorating the emancipation of enslaved Black people by observing June 19th as a federal holiday. The day has taken many different names including Liberation Day and African American Emancipation Day.
Growing up it was a full-day event with family, BBQ, and music similar to what one would see on the 4th of July but Black. Now, I worry that the Holiday will be commercialized, whitewashed and used for corporate profit— much in the way of the Stonewall Riots and Cinco de Mayo (which, by the way, is not Mexican Independence Day).
My grandmother, Doris, a 70-something year old Black woman, didn’t experience an integrated school until she reached college and doesn’t recall being taught much of Black history during those earlier school years. To her, Juneteenth is a celebration not complete without BBQ, red soda, watermelon and of course, family, who she rallied together every June at a North Side Park. She recalled watching her parents back in the day sitting under the “shade tree” with family in the countryside, a tradition she still carries.
Although not far removed from the history of slavery, she remembers being taught about Juneteenth but admits not learning about other events such as the Tulsa Race Massacre until much later in life because of a flawed education system. True reparations cannot begin until there is a reckoning of the wrongs that the United States has committed against Black people.
This year’s acknowledgment of Juneteenth by the federal government is a similar gesture to the social media activism that saw millions post a black square in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. The lack of meaningful discussions on reparations, the stalled progress by Congress to pass legislation on police reform or bills such as the “Emmett Till Antilynching Act”, (which would make lynching a hate crime), makes declaring Juneteenth a national holiday purely symbolic.
