I have observed recent discussions on this topic and seen the range of proposals people have suggested. I typically avoid these subjects because it can sound patronizing, but today I will make an exception and boldly address the fundamental fact for those who are earnest and sincere.
Juneteeth – June 19, 1865, also known as “Freedom Day”, commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans after the Civil War. While I celebrate this milestone, I also see Juneteeth as a day of false freedom, gross deception, economic disenfranchisement, and systematic neglect by the US government.
In a capitalistic society economic freedom is the central freedom. The point of slavery was the mass exploitation and violence of one race by another, for the purpose of the mass accumulation of economic wealth. After the political, economic, and institutional deck with all its benefits had already been stacked against African Americans in favor of their white brethren, a “freedom” was given but without any strong economic policies to rectify the exploitation and reshuffle the deck to support the economic empowerment and autonomy of African Americans, so they could then leverage this might to influence the formation of the State in accordance with their interests. What a joke, but without the laughter.
Contrast this with the land allocation and benefits the government afforded to the white population through the Homestead Act of 1862. Also, with how the US government cared for white servicemen after WWII through the GI Bill (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944) that provided a range of benefits from education, home loans, unemployment benefits, business loans and much else. It is a known fact that discrimination prevented Black Americans them from accessing the full benefits enjoyed by their White counterparts.
So you have no political will to provide economic support for your black population for Juneteeth to “readjust” after centuries of slavery and economic exploitation, but you find this will for land allocation and also decades later for white servicemen so they can economically “readjust” after war. Do you see how disingenuous and duplicitous this is?
In the US, the absolute and exclusive measure of seriousness is how much economic benefit and incentives you are willing to provide! Everything else is minor or smokes and mirrors!
So how can non-black people celebrate Juneteeth?
Reading books and all that has value, but I have a different suggestion. If you are serious, ask a fundamental question:
“How can I leverage my position, connections, resources, and/or time to create opportunities for the economic advancement and empowerment of African Americans?”
This question is all embracing. Thus, your actions should produce, lead to, or create conditions for tangible economic gain. If you do this, then you would have celebrated what lies at the heart of Juneteeth, and only then would you be a real ally of the African American community.
~Dr. Ikenna Ezealah
Nation Upbuilding 