In Celebration of Juneteenth
“I’ve lived in this country for nearly a decade… but had never heard of Juneteenth, the June 19 commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States,” I wrote in this newsletter on June 19 last year, pointing out how so many Americans’ ignorance about the significance of this date spoke of the systemic erasure of the history and contributions of minority groups, especially Black Americans, in this country. President Joe Biden’s declaration yesterday of Juneteenth National Independence Day as an official holiday is a long-overdue step towards pulling back the curtain on this history.
We should celebrate this long-fought-for recognition, but let’s not forget how much more remains to be done when it comes to addressing the structural racism and social and economic inequities that undermine America’s democratic ideals, and as a corollary, undermine our efforts to build a thriving, sustainable world.
As Carolyn Finney writes in her new column, much of this work starts with thinking “differently about the practices and beliefs we’ve codified into universal truths that can make invisible or deny the realities of people different from ourselves.” And as she acknowledges, this “letting go of ideas and a status quo that serve some more than others” is not an easy thing to do. It requires, from all of us, patience and humility, and an openness to questioning old assumptions. But really, without this work, it’s going to be impossible for us to effectively tackle the other existential challenge we all face — our survival on this rapidly changing planet.
So, let’s get to it, shall we?
Maureen Nandini Mitra
Editor, Earth Island Journal
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Photo by: Steve Johnson / Unsplash
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