Celebrating Juneteenth TOGETHER

I was so pleasantly surprised to hear that Juneteenth is now a nationally recognized holiday. When I heard that it was proposed in Congress, I thought it was great, but I honestly did not believe it would happen this soon. The holiday is well-known and has been celebrated within the black community throughout the U.S. since June 19, 1865. Unfortunately, several times, those celebrations were outlawed by cities and localities. But this week is different. Starting this week, we can celebrate our newest national holiday TOGETHER.

This timing is significant as we recently marked 100 years since the massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I listened to survivors like 107-year old Viola Fletcher recount in a congressional hearing the horrific memories that have haunted her for 100 years. Furthermore, that dark moment in U.S. history has been either missing from history books or misclassified as a riot if mentioned at all. It is difficult to hear such gruesome details about U.S. history, but what we have learned from Ms. Fletcher is that ignoring it does not help. If anything, it exacerbates the hurt and delays any healing that can take place.

With racial discourse, it is never easy to start. But as the Chinese proverb says, “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” We did not get here in one step or one year. It took hundreds of years and thousands of steps in the wrong direction. So now that we see where we should go, each of us can begin that thousand-mile journey towards healing and connection.

But where can you start?

Let us consider our current moment with observing Juneteenth. It is frequently coined as “the real U.S. Independence Day.” Now, it is officially part of U.S. tradition and the values we share. Therefore, let us make this holiday an opportunity to start our discourse about the U.S.’s history of racism with patriotism and progress. Let’s use this day of celebration as our first step towards healing TOGETHER.

Let’s be honest about the past, compassionate to others about the present, and courageous about our future.

Dr. David Wiley Campt