KEN-JENNINGS wrote:
Juneteenth has been around forever. You are angry that black culture is seeping in to mainstream American culture? You are aware that it's mainstream corporate culture reacting, right? Black people want to tear down unjust institutions, reform the police, fight for justice. Capitalist America responds by canceling maple syrup iconography, pulling old movies, pushing for a holiday. Giving token concessions that mean nothing, but upset people like you.. And you have the most ignorant take on it. To be upset about such trivial shit.
Ok boomer.
Italian-Americans created Columbus Day to prove their "Americanness" because other white Europeans in America treated them as less than equal. Black people celebrate a day of freedom, and now that it's gaining wider acceptance, you are upset about it? You fucking snowflake!
I cannot fathom how you could look at this and be upset about it. Instead of welcoming such a celebration, a chance for us to acknowledge one simple moment in history, you accuse them of wanting to self-segregate? Black people have begged, cried, and clawed trying to become a part of the broader American narrative, and it's barricades like your mindset above that contributes to their inability. Then you have the audacity to accuse them of wanting to be segregated? You are fucking C L U E L E S S. Get some perspective and think about someone other than yourself.
There is no flag associated with black culture. You know who does have a flag? Policemen. Funny how you omit that from your criticism, isn't it?
So I get the reasoning behind Juneteenth. I get that some black people feel excluded from the 4th of July celebrations because Independence Day from the UK didn't really do a whole lot for them. If you're in bondage, why do you care whose flag fly's above you? I get it. I also get why picking the date when slavery semi-officially ended could be considered to be the real birth of a united nation where all people are actually free, and at least nominally, equal. But, is it really inclusive? Because it certainly wasn't celebrated that way, at least in my social media feeds. What I saw were images of the 4th of July crossed out and replaced with Juneteenth. I saw calls for white people to acknowledge their privilege and their racism and to be anti-racist. This probably doesn't bother you at all. You're apparently fully on board. It bothers me.
Yes, I am a white male, but that isn't any identity that I chose. It was an accident of birth. Why should I have to apologize for what other white people did over a century and a half ago? My family wasn't even in this country until the 1920s and they certainly were never in a position of power over any minorities. I don't share in the guilt, and I don't buy into the need to rub peoples noses in shit every year.
None of this is really coming from a good place. This is mostly a reaction against calls for integration and cultural homogenization. "Why should I have to act white to succeed?" is what this is really about. Why am I policed differently? Why am I told to change my clothing or my hairstyle when I go to work? Why am I criticized for how I speak? Why am I made fun of for the way my mom spelled my name? Why am I asked by certain sheltered white people to represent all black people? I understand the issue, but I don't think they do. They're not being asked to "be white", they're being asked to conform to existing middle class values if they want to be seen as equal members of the class. This doesn't just apply to black people, it applies to white people as well. Middle class white people judge the fuck out of poor white people. So, in order to change class, they're being asked to give up their cultural identity, and they resent it. If they do buy in, they get called Uncle Tom's. If they don't buy in, they face discrimination. Being an educated black person right now is honestly a shit place to be. There's no winning.
So, honestly, what I hope I am seeing are really the last gasps before we do end up with a unified society. I think the black nationalists will eventually lose their battle to keep their own people on the reservation, and we will see more integration of educated black people more fully into the middle class. The one weapon the black nationalists and their white enablers have is endlessly reminding their own people of the history of racism, and seeing racism everywhere in modern society, and they wield it as a club over and over and over and over. Don't trust whitey, keep being black, don't lose your roots, don't lose your history. Why? How is that a positive way to live life? Why keep looking backwards and dwelling on negativity? I think with prosperity and hope, people will begin turning away from it and maybe look towards a future together instead of apart.