It’s only really when they have no choice. The Wednesday holiday, that is. No convenient weekend a day away. So Juneteenth is actually celebrated on Juneteenth. I believe in holidays. I think they’re more than just time off work, and Juneteenth celebrates freedom. And it reminds us that our African-American siblings aren’t yet truly free. We still have much to learn and having a holiday to underscore that is important. Capitalism does a good job of disguising freedom, of course. Your worth is weighed by how much value you add to the company. Taking a day off from that is an opportunity to reflect on how daily living could be improved for all. Juneteenth is a necessary holiday. We need constant reminding.
I don’t see many African-Americans flying flags on their houses declaring themselves “not woke.” We prefer to believe we’ve reached perfection already. Capitalism is great at spreading myths like that. The basic premise behind it is greed, and people are easily divided into groups because of skin tone. It’s a dangerous combination. Somewhere along the way, “justice” came to be a swear word. Particularly among one political party that has decided power, at any cost, is the sine qua non of human existence. If that means oppressing others systemically, or if it means invading a neighboring sovereign state because you have nukes with which to threaten the rest of the world, it’s all the same. Power is far more addictive than any opiate, but we don’t have any laws preventing those unsuited to holding it from doing so. Juneteenth uncovers a host of problems still to address.
Slavery was hard to let go because it cut into profits. Human beings love wealth more than each other. Ironically, without others to compare with, wealth means nothing. If money makes someone happy I have no problem with that, but it has to come with responsibility. One way to handle it responsibly is to insist that only so much can be had before the surplus goes to insure that all people have enough. Of course, where Supreme Court justices openly accept bribes we can’t wonder that there are legal loopholes to help the wealthy circumvent their civic duty. We need constant reminders. We need holidays like Juneteenth. We need to give our African-American siblings the same rights and privileges all people should have. It’s appropriate to celebrate small steps in that direction. Even if it means giving a Wednesday off of work.