Juneteenth: A Contemporary Contemplation

Juneteenth is taking off in popularity. My organization is in the early stages of making it a paid holiday. While this evokes a feeling of validation I struggle to articulate, I am afraid of skipping to celebrating with out understanding. Juneteenth is a lineage holiday. Each one of us has a lineage story. Merriam-Webster defines lineage as 'descent in a line from a common progenitor'. In my case, and the case of others with my shared lineage, the preginators are enslaved Black Americans. On June 19, 1965, word finally came to Galveston, Texas that the enslaved were free. I prefer the verb, enslaved, to the noun, slave, because it was a condition imposed on my ancestors, not their birthright. But I digress. This is an important distinction because while race may have been a prerequisite for enslavement, not all who belong to the Black race share a lineage.

There are plenty of Black folk who are not descendants of American chattel slavery. Yet, everywhere I turn I see kente incorporated into Juneteenth celebration announcements. While many of us do descend from the Ashanti and Ewe, Akan ethnic groups from present day Ghana, the Juneteenth flag would be a more appropriate. We are children of the water. Our lineage, our ethnic group, was born on the Atlantic when we were sold from the families we knew and taken to lands far away to create family with those that we had.

Juneteenth may have freed enslaved Black Americans, but it set a precedent that exists to this day. General Order No. 3 is the backdrop for code switching and the reason some White folks feel emboldened to weaponize law enforcement against Black folks.

According to the national archives, General Order No. 3 informed the remaining enslaved Americans that they were free. It reads as follows: "The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported idleness either there or elsewhere."

Our relationship with White folk was to reflect that of employer and hired laborer. You ever been on your phone scrolling when your boss came around the corner? Being on your phone is not inherently bad but it is if you're supposed to be working. Take code switching for example. We have a way of speaking, moving and an ease that is accessible when we are in one another's company as Black people. Some refer to our dialect as African-American Vernacular English. AAVE is often used as a trope and augmented by a snaking neck or sucking teeth, which I can assure you is not the reality of the way we communicate but embellished for entertainment. - a modern-day minstrel show. True AAVE is simply a version of English full of lineage proverbs, jargon and heavily influenced by the Black church as it is difficult to discuss Black culture separately from the Black church. Because of the power dynamic set between those former “master” and “slave” being ‘hencetofore’ that of employer and hired laborer, code switching was born.?The trickledown of this is that our authenticity is not deemed acceptable, professional or virtuous.?We are all of those things however the order’s undertones don’t support that truth.?Worse yet, this devaluing of our very nature can be internalized to the point where we feel we need to change up in order to be acceptable and therefore accepted.?This precedent was set with the emancipation proclamation.?

We will not be supported in idleness.?Rest. Relaxation. Must work.?Be on your way to, at, or coming from - work.?‘Remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages.’ I recently participated in a conference where we discussed race and outdoor recreation.?I talked with several prospective breakout group speakers surrounding what Chelsea Murphy calls diversifying the outdoors.?I heard stories of park rangers being called for no reason whatsoever to investigate the presence of Black campers. Gathering in idleness.?Not a crime, yet a cause for suspicion.?In order for something or someone to be out of place, they must first have a place to be put in.?That place, as described in General Order No. 3, was work.?No rest for the weary.?

Weary we are. ?I have a charge for antiracists this Juneteenth. ?Support our idleness.?Let us rest.?Stop interrogating our presence - “Where are you from?” “What brings you here?” or the less obvious but equally othering, “I haven’t seen you here before,” I was greeted with during off-leash hours at the lake I was hesitant to even take my dogs to because I prefer the off-peak hours personally. Yes, I plan my outings around the likelihood of being questioned by White folks for existing in spaces they won’t let me forget I do not belong.?My charge is simply:?Let us be.?

Let us sleep – Breonna Taylor.?

Let us jog – Ahmad Aubery.?

Let us walk – Trayvon Martin.?

Let us drive – Daunte Wright.?

Let us shop – George Floyd.?

Let us talk on the phone – Andre Hill.?

Let us eat ice cream – Botham Jean.?

Let us drive – Philandro Castile.

Let us play – Tamir Rice.?

Let us be.

Understand that your suspicion of us doing anything outside of working is rooted in the Emancipation Proclamation itself.?Let us existence outside of the White gaze.

This weekend, and many Juneteenths to follow, we will be gathering and we will be idle.?We will be celebrating our freedom from a brutal enslavement right here in the only country we know as home.?We will be celebrating in ways that you may not understand.?Resist the urge to report us.?Instead, consider celebrating Juneteenth for yourself.?Celebrate a monumental moment in your own lineage story if it applies to you – the day your ancestors released their enslaved and relieved themselves from the horrific expectations that came with enslaving and enforcing American chattel slavery.

I can’t close without mentioning one more thing - Kente is to Juneteenth as Rainbows are to Pride. ?During the height of the Civil Rights Movement, many countries across Africa gained their independence from colonialism. Pan Africanism, the belief that we of African ancestry share a common history and a common destiny, was born.?As I mentioned early on in this contemplation, kente originates from the Ashanti and Ewe of present-day Ghana.?The same Ghana who gained independence on March 6, 1957 – 92 years after U.S. emancipation. ?I had the pleasure of visiting Ghana with my family during the Year of Return.?It is a beautiful place filled with welcoming people.?My husband, children and I walked through Cape Coast and Elmina castles with dungeons where our ancestors may very well have been held until they were loaded on to ships set for the Americas.?There is a connection but representation is quite the leap.

My critique of kente-inspired Juneteenth décor is not a critique of kente itself but rather the intellectual laziness of spewing it wherever the Juneteenth appears.?Kind of like picking Pride month to deck oneself out with rainbows and attend queer parties without seeking to learn queer history or understanding how the rainbow became the symbol of Pride in the first place.

We have a Juneteenth flag.?The red, white and blue represents America.?We are, have been and will be Americans.?The star represents our Black American ancestors’ newly found freedom.?And true to our American lineage, we aspire to be one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. ?That is something July 4, 1776 made no promise of to my ancestors.?We were not included in that ‘all’.?Juneteenth however was our Freedom Day. It was the starting point for the freedoms we are still fighting for as descendants of enslaved Americans.?Juneteeth is a reminder that though it tarry, wait for it because it will surely come.?Our freedom didn’t come on Independence Day, it came on Juneteenth.?And just like the United States did not perfect overnight July 4, our freedom has yet to fully unfold.?Those who truly desire a more perfect Union, can celebrate and critique Independence Day and Freedom Day respectively.