Stop Wishing My Black Ass a Happy Juneteenth
Stop Wishing — Just Make It So
Juneteenth 2024
I always thought it was weird for a white person to even celebrate Juneteenth. As a white person, this holiday exists because cruel and maleficent white people kept Black people in chains. Are you celebrating white supremacist cruelty? ~ June 19th, 2023
I should have gone into the city to see what was going on. Many of my activism organizer friends shared energetic photos of celebration in the streets, so clearly I missed something. I guess when I miss an opportunity, you do too, because if I don’t take those photos, you don’t get to witness.
If you missed me immortalizing Black Joy this year, you can definitely blame me.
I did hit up the liquor store on Juneteenth. The fellow behind the cash register wished me a “Happy Juneteenth.” I mentioned a couple of things that deter us from having a Happy Juneteenth, like how the last living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa, Oklahoma terrorism strike against Black people did not get any closure or repair from the United States government.
To put this in the context of reparations, the known survivors are Viola Fletcher, 110, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, 109 years of age. There are only two known survivors left. Approximately…
