By Polo Munoz, Managing Editor/Publisher
Recognizing Juneteenth should be just the beginning of our education into the pain black folks in the US have suffered and continue to suffer. We celebrate their gifts with them every minute of the day, the music, the literature, the art, and the fashion. However, in many cases, many who enjoy their gifts are also a cause of their pain.
There is no way to ignore that most of us can never really feel the systematized physical, emotional and spiritual violence that has been designed to denigrate, dehumanize and paralyze this beautiful community from the beginning of this country. For generations they have been violated because of the color of their skin. Fear, hate and ignorance have no place in our world, especially in a country that denotes “pursuit of happiness” as a cornerstone ideal.
There are plenty or resources for all of us to understand a community that has been at the forefront of civil rights for all of us, we just need to make the choice to revisit and truly listen to the words of Reverend King and Malcolm X and others that were silence to stop their work to awaken us to the plight we all suffered because of their oppression. There is Zola Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, Ta – Nehisi Coates, Angela Davis, Octavia E. Butler, Ibram X. Kendi and many others that I am missing, the list is endless because their gifts are vast and abundant. This amazing community has brought awareness and joy to the world in abundance and we are the recipients of the joy and opportunities they have intentionally been denied by people who are deeply fearful of the vast wealth and cultural richness that has been created by them and stolen for the benefit of a few. The underlying truth with reparations is that there is not enough money to pay back what has been robbed from them.
This is a moment to come together as a country and acknowledge the deep extent to which the experiences that the black people in the US have been and continue to be subjected to. Celebrating and acknowledging Junteenth does not negate anyone else’s’ humanity, if someone feels like that, their racism and jealousy is showing.
Happy Junteenth, I am reveling in this day and I can’t wait to the future celebrations!!
