I know what you must be thinking: That's some next level caucasity for me to claim Juneenth as white history. And you're sort of right. Except that the only part I am claiming, the only part we as white people have any remote right to claim, is for being the reason Juneteenth exists at all. This is not at all our holiday to celebrate.
What is Juneteenth? Maybe you've heard of it, maybe you haven't. Juneteenth honors June 19th, 1865, when the US military arrived at Galveston, TX, and at long last, enforced the end of slavery. Slavery had legally ended two years previously, but slave owners in Texas held out, didn't tell the enslaved people they were free, and kept them captive for a full two years more before being forced to stop.
Our ancestors kicked and screamed and held onto slavery for as long as they could before they had no choice but to accept it was over and they would have to free their enslaved humans. This event was deemed celebration-worthy and June Nineteenth, became Juneteenth, and a holiday was born.
Juneteenth has waxed and waned in popularity over the years, and seems to be on the rise in popularity. Some businesses have made it a paid holiday, though it feels inherently wrong for any white person to receive paid time off to participate in a holiday that the only part we played in it was trying to keep it from happening.
So remember, any time you hear a fellow white person complaining about why the holiday doesn't center all people and doesn't actively make white people feel like welcome participants, now you know why it isn't ours, and you can help educate those people about it. Equity feels like a loss to the oppressing class, which means, sometimes one group of people gets to enjoy a holiday, and we feel left out. And that's just the way it is.
Learn more about Juneteenth:
The official Juneteenth website.
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