Juneteenth: shared history and common ground

A friend of mine and I were having an online discussion about Juneteenth recently. Duane is Black. I am White. We are fellow-Buffalonians. Duane, made a point about his disappointment in what Juneteenth has become. Duane writes, "I really wanted to be pro-Juneteenth, but all of the pandering by this administration and others have turned this from a possible celebration of the unity this country could have, and acknowledgment of the futility and wrongness of past separations, into a divisive, cynical condescending handout to one specific group in exchange for the hope of a firm voting bloc. Instead of everybody celebrating the freedom which this country now offers everybody, we are balcanized over this Monday with other groups asking, “when do I get my day?”

I get the frustration. However, I think WE THE PEOPLE have an opportunity to turn this around and make it unifying. This is a rather "new" public discussion! 

I remember when I went to my first Juneteenth celebration. It was summer of 1980......the summer between my junior and senior year at Buffalo State. I was living just off campus at Baynes St. and Forest Ave., sharing an apartment with three other women. Two of us were Black and two of us were White. One day, one of our other off campus friends, Barbara, a Black student, said, "Hey come on! Let's go over to the Juneteenth celebration!"
"The what?" I asked.
"Juneteenth! Come on get dressed up, let's go! "

I had no idea what THAT was, but I was up for some summer fun. So we went, over to the Black community near what is now MLK Park. Five beautiful young women, Black and White, dressed in summer clothes kickin' it down Fillmore Avenue, with the music blaring and food cooking and a total party atmosphere for blocks and blocks. All the way down to what was THEN Humboldt Park with the big, refreshing wading pool in the middle. I had NO PREVIOUS IDEA what the celebration was about, but a whole lotta Black folks knew! I was, "late to the game." Still, I was welcome. It is a very warm, positive memory.

Fast forward to present times.....I still think most White folks don't know what Juneteenth is about because historically as it has been mostly Black people that celebrated it. That day in Buffalo, I didn't see any other White people other than my other roommate and me. It was a "well-kept secret". I felt somewhat dumb because I'd never heard of it....kind of like in the Black History class I took at Buffalo State when the professor asked, "Who knows who Crispus Attucks was?" and every Black student raised their hand....and we two or three White students were clueless! But, oh well. I got caught up on the info! Now I know!

I bet before Juneteenth became a federal holiday, very few White people ever heard of it. But, they can get caught up on it! I am pretty adamant though. Juneteenth is as much for me as for any one. I didn't grow up in a diverse community. It was WHITE. My childhood was WHITE. My knowledge of Black people, history, etc., came from television and news, and you know what kind of role models there were in the media in the 60s and 70s, along with all the stereotypes that accompanied them. Oooooo Buffalo State was a CULTURE SHOCK for me with its on campus population of predominantly Black students from downstate New York. And in it's own way, my "mind" was "emancipated" (yes I'm gonna use that term) from dysfunctional, assumptive, biased "thought". I was able to forge friendships, TRUE friendships, with other Black students without being encumbered by hackneyed historical conventions.

One caveat: I imagine making Juneteenth a federal holiday is going to change it. Black people have had the corner on the Juneteenth celebration market for over a century, and many feel, "It's ours." Well, it's really, not. That's some territory some peeps are not going to feel comfortable sharing. Both Black and White people were abolitionists, manned the Underground Railroad, petitioned to legislate the end of slavery, took steps to prevent the spread of slavery into new states coming into the Union, fought and died in the Civil War. The slaves of west Texas weren't emancipated in some sort of bubble. It was the Union Army that rode into Texas to uphold emancipation. I can absolutely understand the ex-slaves of Texas celebrating their finalized freedom, and for generations thereafter to carry on the tradition. But they didn't "free" themselves. The blood of numerous different races of people was shed for freedom. That is undeniable. But the celebration of the concerted effort it took to accomplish, is so very "new" to many folks.  And White people are going to have to get comfortable understanding that "unification" factor that my friend, Duane, brought up. Juneteenth is for White people too. But that's a whole different way of talking about it than what has been the standard. So, let's do better. I think this can be turned around for good, and be a force for unity, shared history, and common ground.  - Susan Parlato Revels