Juneteenth…Still Not Free

This week was hard. I encountered too many microagressions…and the final one occurred at work. This piece is the only journal entry I’ve ever been forced to write.

An executive asked me to share what Juneteenth meant to me on our team call
…that’s about 50 ppl from all over the country
…that’s not what I meant when I read “Retirement” to them
…that’s not my cross to bear when we have an all white executive team

I did what every good black girl does out of fear of loosing their job & being categorized as an angry black. I said yes.
…even though I had an over scheduled calendar and no time to prepare with only a few hours notice
…even though it made me feel like my middle school self when we got to the paragraph on slavery and the teacher would call on me to read it b/c I was the only black student
…even though it brought me to tears
I said yes

So this is my forced journal entry…because we are still not free.

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What does Juneteenth mean to me?

It’s a hopeful day but also a reminder that even after the Emancipation Proclamation that whites were so attached to being able to make a profit from not paying for labor that blacks still had to work for free - as slaves. It’s a reminder that many viewed their ability to build generational wealth for their family as more important than human lives.

Many people think the emancipation proclamation ended slavery…but it did not

Many people think that unpaid labor ended…but it did not

Many people think that black people are free…but we are not

Many people think that black people are equal…but we are not

Many people think that they are not able to understand the struggles of Black Americans…but they can

…they choose not to

…they choose to look the other way

…they choose not to do the work

…they choose privilege over equality every day

They can google

They can mentor

They can buy from black businesses

They can lobby for equal laws for Black Americans

They can have difficult conversations with their white families, friends and colleagues

They can stop bombarding the black people in their lives with questions about being black

They can educate their children about racism (not color blindness)

They can donate to NPOs fighting systemic racism

They can hire black employees and groom them for the c-suite

They can put their privilege on the line in order to gain equity for those who don't have it. Period.

So the question this Juneteenth is….who is selfless enough to sacrifice their privileges for others?