“We are not fighting for integration, nor are we fighting for separation. We are fighting for recognition as human beings…In fact, we are actually fighting for rights that are even greater than civil rights and that is human rights,” Malcolm X once declared decades ago, which rings even truer today.
While getting justice is a seemingly slow and steady race, the Black community is considerably one step closer for even greater recompense with its need for equitable freedom in the celebration of Juneteenth this Sunday, June 19.
Now in its second year of being recognized as a federal holiday, the newly cherished day is embraced by many after President Joe Biden signed it into law in 2021 – one year after Floyd’s murder.
First made a state holiday in Texas in 1980, Juneteenth was initially celebrated in the south with a nationwide ripple effect with northern states picking up on the trend. After Floyd died in 2020, along with the nation’s eyes on other high-profile police killings of Black people — many people realized the brutality reality.
Juneteenth – also known as “Jubilee Day,” “Liberation Day,” and “Emancipation Day” – celebrates the enslaved people in Galveston, Tex., finally being read their notice of emancipation. Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, but the message did not reach everyone until 1865 — two years after the proclamation and two months after the end of the Civil War.
Juneteenth marks the moment that all Black Americans knew they were free, and has been celebrated as an Independence Day ever since. Last year, Michigan got on board, too as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made Juneteenth an official holiday for the State of Michigan.
Some individuals have different viewpoints on Juneteenth.
Dr. Kalfani Ture, an assistant professor at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Maryland, told the Michigan Chronicle that he sees Juneteenth a bit differently and describes it as “nothing short of a contemptuous teasing of African Americans and a sacrilegious commemoration of America’s progressive values.”
“Ostensibly, this hollowed holiday painfully and annually reminds its darker citizens that this government is only committed to giving lip service to justice and equity for all as it is marked forever in the annals of time as an empty overture without substantive repair, namely reparations,” Ture said. “As a social scientist, an African American Studies professor, I see very little that is celebratory about the lived experiences of race in the United States. If Juneteenth offers us anything, it tells us that we must repent and atone. This sober analysis and prognostication is facing serious headwinds given that traditional institutions of learning are in recess and we are forced to rely on those with institutional comfort to be willing to shift the status quo. The United States must sincerely consider reparations which the 19th and 20th century left incomplete.”
Metro-Detroit Black Business Alliance (MDBBA) President and CEO Charity Dean wants to empower Black businesses in Detroit and beyond on Juneteenth and every other time of the year.
Dean said that Black businesses can really benefit from the holiday with local shoppers supporting the Black dollar and keeping it in the Black community longer.
The national buying power of Black people in 2019 alone was a whopping $1.4 trillion, according to a report by Selig Center for Economic Growth. Yet, the Black dollar circulates a mere six hours in the Black community while it circulates about 20 days in the Jewish community according to bankgreenwood.com.
Dean wants to change that narrative saying that the holiday, and all that it represents, is “long overdue.”
“Nevertheless, it’s here and it is a great opportunity to remember … and use it as an opportunity for Black people to celebrate our culture, our resilience, and remember our struggle,” she said, adding that she is proud of helping be a part of that narrative through the business lens on Juneteenth.
“Black businesses face many historic barriers,” Dean said previously. “The goal of the MDBBA is to eliminate barriers to success in every way possible. By providing this Center to members, we are helping to close the digital gap that exists while creating a space for unapologetically Black innovation and creativity in entrepreneurship.”
Last year an official resolution through the Detroit City Council commemorated Juneteenth as an annual celebration of Black economic liberation.
“Many African Americans have worked and continue to work to build wealth within the Black community,” the resolution read. “The Detroit City Council recognizes Juneteenth, June 19, as an annual celebration of the past, present, and future of Black economic liberation and those who work towards that liberation.”
Reflecting on Juneteenth, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson shared past reflections on opportunities to advance racial justice in the state and nation.
“Juneteenth celebrates the freedom of Black Americans and the dignity of all Americans by marking the date our country ended a horrific, inhumane chapter in our history,” said Benson. “As Secretary of State, I remain committed to increasing racial equity and access in our public services, our elections and our democracy to build a more just society for all.”
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