Juneteenth: An American Celebration

I hear the outward celebrations of Juneteenth are being scaled down due to expectations of backlash from bigots, basically. In the current national atmosphere, it’s understandable, and in some degree wise. Like not setting off fireworks in a dry meadow.

But the historic moment is most certainly not canceled, it is not going away: Those who would celebrate in the streets–the descendants of those who were trafficked from their African homes over centuries, and their allies who acknowledge the responsibilities of our own ancestors who held the chains, the whips, and the auctions–will still be celebrating in our hearts.

Juneteenth is a celebration of determination and survival, and the beginnings of justice.

 it’s about shifting that power away from the bigots even in this season when they seem to be having their own way. Every day it’s clear to see that in the end, they lose: Time does what it does, tides change, and the human species grows in awareness and wisdom. The ones who won’t grow, who won’t escape their dead-end thinking will starve themselves out of spite and refusal to admit they could ever be or ever have been wrong.

That, of course is not just an American thing, it’s a human thing.