Oops I… didn’t know about Juneteenth

“Didn’t this just become a thing like a year ago?”. 

No, Juneteenth has been celebrated for over 150 years across the United States . If you don’t know what Juneteenth is, it is a day where we celebrate the liberation of African slaves in Texas in 1865, 2 years after the civil war ended. Now this isn’t a history lesson, if you want to learn more you can do so here; this is really a reflection on my own experience with the holiday. 

Now if you didn’t know what Juneteenth was, don’t feel bad, neither did I. The epidemic of ignorance in the United States and honestly all over the world stems from many different roots. Children in the United States are taught predominantly through white-washed perspective of history. Stories that paint white Americans in a negative light are thought to discourage patriotism, so many are dismissed entirely. Black history, Indigenous history, minority cultures and tradition aren’t taught in classrooms… they certainly weren’t in mine. In fact, African-American history isn’t taught in most schools and it’s actually illegal to teach about it in 15 states. Many flawed, one-sided, partially-informed generations have ensued and we are just beginning to see the efforts of many be fruitful. 

My Juneteenth Experience

This Juneteenth I celebrate alone in my Paris apartment, a far cry from my day spent at a black artist exhibition last year, or attending a protest with the BLM movement the year before. The cries I heard while protesting, echo in my head today. GET YOUR ASS OFF OUT OF THE HOUSE, AND OUT INTO THESE STREETS. Does progress mean fighting physically? Politically? Emotionally? Academically? Am I contributing to progress by investing in my success? Ensuring that I am an example of representation in my field, in my decisions, in my school? What else should I be doing? 

As you may have guessed, I don’t have the answer to these questions. What I do know is that through the constant injustices we see, maybe we should take today as a well-deserved break to celebrate what we’ve done so far. 

This is an invitation to reflect on this holiday, what it means, and why we didn’t know about it for so long. What can we do today (and every day), whether it’s doing some more digging on its history, supporting black artists, or going out and attending a Juneteenth event, I hope you all find a way to celebrate that makes sense for you. 

Happy Juneteenth everyone!