Happy Juneteenth!

With liberty and justice for ALL.

f*ck slavery!

my family came to the US from Europe long after slavery had been abolished.   the germans and russians were taking turns oppressing and mistreating us while all that was transpiring here in the USA.

Coolstorybro alert:

My first exposure to Juneteenth was in, uh, June, of 1991. My fiancee and I had just moved to DC and were looking for something to do on a weekend. We saw in the City Paper (probably) that there was this thing called a "Juneteenth" celebration in Anacostia SE. 

So we drove across the river, parked at a park (probably Anacostia Park, although I don't remember specifically), and witnessed a fucking awesome celebratory festival. We had no idea of the cultural significance of Juneteenth, nor the bad rep of Anacostia, but we had a ball and felt totally welcomed and glad to be witnesses to so much joy.

Thus endeth the cool story bro.

Happy Juneteenth! I am going to enjoy this day.

People sure do bitch about this holiday a lot. I'll give it a try I guess.  Look at us celebrating the end of slavery by virtue signaling on our phones made with parts like cobalt that were dug out of a pit using child labor in horrific conditions somewhere in the Congo so that my fat ass can sit on my couch and type some overly long incoherent rant on my phone. All in a world with more slavery than ever before that is mostly of the sex trade variety, but yes we're good people because we say we don't like the bad things to strangers online and we took a day off and got some chores done and chimed in with our very important feelings about a previously obscure to most, but meaningful, holiday that our govt made national and will commercialize to create the appearance of progress. One thing is true. We are all eqauls.  We don't care how the sausage is made as long as it finds it's way down our wide wanting gullets.

Do I hate slavery? Duh.  Am I gonna continue to live my life blissfully unaware and disconnected from the harsh realities of our world and continue to do what I do every day? Absolutely. Am I occasionally gonna have some fleeting thoughts or emotion about some shit I can't do anything about that ultimately means fuck all because the powers at be can't even change things and I'm 5000 levels removed/downstream? Yes, and its same for every last one of you filthy heathens regardless of what color, creed, or gender you are. Because we're ALL Americans and human beings that would have likely loved slavery had we been born in a different time and place. We're not good or bad or have some deeper insight.  We're just current. We just are. We're not gonna change anything in the long run. The powers at be win every time. It's inevitable. Forever.

Enjoy whatever few fleeting moment of joy you have in your life with those you love right in front of your face for as long as they're there. Treat everyone in your immediate surrounding with kindness and love. That's all the vast majority of us can do whether it's enough or not. Everything else is out of your control. Spoiler: none of us make it out alive or will be remembered in a few generations. So shut up about it all already . . . or don't and post a worthless reply that's as worthless, hypocritical, and as misinformed and full of poor opinions as my diatribe. Do whatever you want because that's what we'll all do anyway. Happy Juneteenth!

Thanks for doing this post. Happy Juneteenth to all, and may we continue to aspire to greatness for the American experiment 

This is a super passionate topic which I assume won't end well on this board.  But before it's (potentially) deleted, let me just say that I (for one) am proud of this nation's recognition of this critical moment in our history, and I hope we continue to use opportunities like this holiday to educate our youth about the fundamental human values we hold sacred to our country's values.

Some white people resent when Black people get any sympathetic attention from white people or historically white institutions.  They respond by making passive aggressive comments on message boards.  Every year, on Junetwentieth, I buy a mattress in their honor.

For this interested in reading a. little more, here's a fascinating New Yorker article. It discusses a passage about a Juneteenth celebration, from Ralph Ellison's novel of the same name.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-celebration-of-juneteenth-in-ralph-ellisons-juneteenth

Wouldn't the appropriate observation of Juneteenth involve giving Black people the day off while making white people work without pay?

That seems like the least we could do.