Tomorrow we collectively take a step back and have the day to pause and reflect on the importance of Juneteenth. This year, Julianka Bell has written a really stellar piece about what the holiday means to her not only as a Black mother, but as the granddaughter of an enslaved woman who fled the Jim Crow South in the middle of the night. “We're no longer picking cotton, but the pressure to produce at all costs hasn't disappeared. Now we get paid, but the message is the same: Absorb the extra labor, smile through the stress, and say, ‘I'm fine,’ even when you're not. Rest feels like a luxury and something you have to earn or feel guilty for.” She continues: “Lately, however, I find myself returning to the image of my grandmother on that quiet night, declaring that enough was enough. She walked away from a life where her labor was expected but never valued. The lesson she left us, the one I carry into motherhood, is that true freedom can mean the right to be whole, nourished, and to take pause without shame, as a way to show up fully for the ones you love.” I promise this beautiful piece will stay with you. |
