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2021 marks the year when Juneteenth finally became a national holiday! We should be happy, right?
Well, after a summer of protests, countless unheard complaints, and broken campaign promises … this feels like an empty gesture that ignores bigger issues like police brutality, economic freedom, and affordable housing. Is this the best they could do?
The U.S. government has done this before – symbolic gestures that don’t truly address white supremacy.
The Reconstruction Age, which should have been a transformation of a slave society, can be seen as an empty government concession. We remain overpoliced, exploited, and underpaid. It doesn’t seem like much of a “reconstruction” from the slave economy.
The Civil Rights Movement was, in many ways, also full of empty gestures. The white supremacist structure couldn’t possibly be truly reformed, nor would laws and amendments be enough to stop the social dynamics of racial discrimination.
So here we stand again, another Black movement demanding respect and dignity just like our ancestors before us. And again, we see white America throw us back meaningless gestures. When will they finally take Black liberation seriously?
There is a possibility they never will. But we must continue onward, with or without authentic support from the government, to gain our freedom regardless of what obstacles lay in our paths.