Jubilee

President Biden has signed Juneteenth into a recognized federal holiday. Juneteenth is the real Independence Day for descendants of enslaved African people in America. On June 19th, 1865, enslaved people in Galveston Bay, Texas were told of their freedom and the newly-freed called their celebration Juneteenth. This was two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

Celebration of life and freedom is always a wonderful thing, but not when the celebration is premature and has not solved any issues. There are enslaved people in America in 2021. Its called mass incarceration stemming from injustices in the justice system. Slavery hasn't ended it's been modified.

It's ass backwards to tell the nation we're going to celebrate the real day of Black freedom, but won't implement a curriculum in schools that teach in-depth the meaning and causes of Juneteenth. Black people are still fighting to make lynching a federal crime in 2021.

But don't worry! They have painted Black Lives Matter in the streets, named the streets Black Lives Matter Way, and taken a knee in the Capitol Building. These are big moves! [claps in sarcasm]. You can get the day off from work to celebrate Juneteenth, but it may not be paid. Georgia Governor Bill Kemp blocked Juneteenth being a paid holiday because Georgia has reached their legal limit of 12 paid holidays. This undermines the whole point of giving people time to gather together and understand why Juneteenth matters. We'll see if Georgia actually replaces savage Columbus Day with Juneteenth like they're talking about.

How companies and brands were going to monetize Juneteenth has been an ongoing joke on Black social media channels for a couple days. Look at this foolery. The cultural disrespect of a black-eyed pea salad with hot sauce vinaigrette to a traditional southern dish, commonly served as a thick soup with cornbread. Black-eyed peas represent prosperity and are accompanied by collard greens for wealth on NEW YEAR'S DAY, not Juneteenth. These posts just show that these companies most likely don't have any Black people on staff to even ask if they were culturally insensitive or even correct. One look and I would've scrapped both of these.

I understand Juneteenth is new for a lot of people, even some Black people but we have to do more extensive research. What can't be found online can always be found with our elders. Sit down and learn from those who have lived it. Juneteenth is a day of celebration, remembering and learning for the whole nation, without grilled watermelon and 40 acres and a mule freedom sales.