The story and celebration of Juneteenth connect to our current reparations struggle, specifically the fight for media reparations. Check out this Op-Ed authored by Media 2070 team members Diamond Hardiman and Venneikia Williams to learn more.

Friend,

June 19, 1865, or Juneteenth (“Emancipation Day” or “Jubilee Day” in most early accounts),¹ is a celebration of the news that informed Black people throughout Texas that the institution of slavery had been abolished — despite the Emancipation Proclamation marking the legislative end of slavery nearly two and a half years earlier. The day is celebrated throughout the United States with processions, speeches, art and dance.

For Free Press’ Media 2070 project,² the story and celebration of Juneteenth connect to our current reparations struggle, specifically the fight for media reparations.

A world where Black people of the diaspora get to tell their own stories, from ideation to distribution, is possible. Just as Juneteenth was inevitable, so is the realization of reparations.

At Media 2070, we wish to see a media system in which Black stories, like the one of Juneteenth, are told in their fullness without being co-opted or condemned. Narrative and media are important levers of redress as we grapple with a media system that is intricately tied to violent systems like slavery.

Media 2070 team members Diamond Hardiman and Venneikia Williams have published an Op-Ed about Juneteenth and the fight for media reparations in YES! Magazine. Please read it and share it with your community.

In solidarity,

The Media 2070 team
media2070.org

1. “The Spread of ‘Juneteenth’ in Reconstruction-Era Texas,” The Reconstruction Era blog, June 18, 2020

2. Media 2070, https://media2070.org