This article was originally published on Grits & Gospel.
Business as Usual
Juneteenth holds such a strange space in our collective zeitgeist today. The aftermath of George Floyd’s murder during the beginning of the pandemic injected new life into the now-Federal holiday, as corporations scrambled to try and strike the right tone with their Black customers and employees.
Three years later, the macroeconomic backdrop has shifted, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion departments were often among the first to go as Corporate America cut costs in anticipation of a recession. In many ways, save for some of us having the day off, we are back to business as usual.
And “business as usual”, in this country, is a loaded concept.
The spark of capitalism in this country and the Western world, was lit with the labor of our enslaved ancestors, and the ember has yielded spoils the world over for centuries now.
If you know me, then you know I’m proud AF to be Black, but the past three years have made me realize how exhausting it can be carrying around this burden all the time. I’ve harshly observed that no matter where I turn, no matter where I go, there is evidence of a centuries-long ethnocide against my people of the African diaspora. That’s on top of the genocide and ethnocide of the Indigenous people whose land was stolen.
I understand the object of the game that was commenced with the ruling class’s advent of race in the 17th century.
But I won’t fall into the trap of becoming “colorblind”, either.
Because while race may only be a mental construct, it carries with it very tangible implications. We must always remain conscious of the battles hard fought and won by our ancestors and their allies in this struggle for freedom over the past 400 years. Each generation stands on the shoulders of the ones that came before, and we must honor and acknowledge the fact that the many privileges we enjoy today are fruits of their unyielding effort.
A New Lens and a Way Out
At the Sustainable Culture Lab, we think it’s more beneficial to have these difficult conversations about America’s realities in terms of culture rather than race.
Culture, meaning, the things people in a particular place do to sustain themselves in perpetuity.
Through this lens, we can see that the predominant culture in America, as evidenced by our increasingly divided and unequal capitalistic society, is one of extraction and perpetual exploitation. It’s an ethnocidal culture.
It’s so much and so heavy that it is incumbent upon us all to learn the art of letting it all go — at least momentarily.
That weight off of your shoulders is freeing!
Find your peace and familiarize yourself with it — whatever that means for you. Return to it as often as you need!
It’s a necessity these days. We’re drowning in information and misinformation overload.
The poet Gil Scott-Heron famously coined the phrase, “The revolution will not be televised.”
The revolution in 2023 certainly won’t be televised, because many of us don’t even have cable anymore.
The revolution will not be live-streamed on Instagram or Twitch.
The revolution will not be tweeted in 164 characters (or is it 500 words now?) on Twitter.
The revolution will not be chopped up into 45-second addictive clips on TikTok.
No.
What Gil Scott-Heron meant then, and what still rings true now — is that the revolution will not be televised, because the revolution starts in the mind.
Be the change you wish to see. That’s the challenge we all are individually faced with for the benefit of the collective.
And I don’t mean that on no Gandhi, nor some “pull yourself up by your bootstraps”, shit neither.
What I mean is that freedom starts in the mind, which we have our own control over, and thus freedom itself is something that nobody can give to you in the first place.
When we have mental freedom, we no longer find ourselves auto-piloting towards endless scrolls down our timelines of choice.
When you have mental freedom, you define success for yourself.
When you have mental freedom, you define “enough” for yourself.
When we have mental freedom, we are no longer slaves to our conditioning.
Mental Clarity and Black Joy is Revolutionary
This mental conditioning is true today for Black folks and all “races” / ethnicities alike. This whole thing hasn’t been about race for a long time.
It’s always been about wealth and class and labor — keeping society divided in a way that fuels the GDP machine for private benefit.
Just check out the FBI file on Fred Hampton and his Rainbow Coalition. Why was that considered a threat to America?
We have so many reasons to walk around distracted and in fear, amplified 100x over in all kinds of media formats seeking to profit from our attention.
But what’s so beautiful to me is that Black people always find the love — it’s inherent to our culture. And love casts out fear, every time!
Our culture has always consisted of fighting to survive so that future generations could thrive. Our culture has always been about fighting for freedom.
When we tune out the noise and let love and light in — we realize how truly free we are to consciously create the conditions to experience peace, despite it all!
From Decoding Antiquated Text to *Real* American Culture
One of my favorite things about Juneteenth is that it represents a rare instance of America actually being inclusive with the word “we”.
When we see “We, the people…” as the start of the Constitution, we know who the authors are really referring to. The Three-Fifths Compromise tells us all we need to know about that.
And from there, redlining and gerrymandering, among other tactics, have continued to show us. The play has always been about property values, asymmetrical political influence, and financial exclusion.
The Federalist Society and other “originalist” interpreters of the Constitution continue to connect the dots in legal arenas across the country, using context from 236 years ago to effectively regress our society today.
But Juneteenth — the notion that the truth eventually does make its rounds, even despite the best efforts of those who want to hide it — that’s a true American holiday to me.
… “American” in the sense that brings me pride, anyway. An America that values the collective over the individual. That’s how Black folks have always had to get down, by necessity.
We band together to survive, and that’s real culture.
Cookout Etiquette and a Way Forward
Who can come to the cookout? I’m sorry, Clarence Thomas, but all skinfolk ain’t kinfolk, and you, sir, are the opps.
My white sister with the courage to address your racist aunties and uncles, please do pull up! (She might be the only one on time, but that’s a convo for another day…)
But seriously, though — you see where I’m going with this?
I’m no longer with the division. I’m about solutions.
This Juneteenth, let’s commit to telling the truth — to ourselves and to each other and to anyone who’ll listen. My truth, your truth, our truth.
Even when — especially when — it’s uncomfortable.
Just like after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and the very first Juneteenth 2.5 years later in Galveston, TX, we are once again in a time of Reconstruction. Today, as then, progress on a national level will require collective awareness and courage.
So, let’s celebrate freedom and rest up this weekend — then let’s get back into the fight.
Remember, the change starts with you. So be the light!
Happy Juneteenth, yall!
-Sam