Juneteenth 2022: In the Arms of the Ancestors
Happy Juneteenth. Today commemorates when the last of the enslaved people in Texas were finally told of their emancipation. And while we no longer are enslaved, we are not yet free. Yes, true, we live in a country with more constitutional rights than most, but the alarmingly disproportionate level of dedication to and protection of those rights between Black and brown people compared to our white compatriots must be acknowledged every day until we achieve true and lasting racial equity.
For me, Juneteenth is a day to honor the ones who came before us, those who suffered through and sacrificed much yet still chose to create the next generation. Still chose to believe in the future.
While my mother can tell me about her family’s heritage all the way from before they came to this country, I don’t know much about the ancestors on my father’s side of the family. Like most Black Americans whose family descended from enslaved people, we can’t trace our family back beyond more than a few generations. That history was intentionally concealed and destroyed — in and of itself, a dangerous thing that we are still fighting against in many states today.
Although faceless and nameless to many of us, we would not be here without our ancestors. With so much work still be done, we do walk paths - partial dreams - that they could not have fathomed.
As a people, we honor them communally, conceptually, deeply — we share our ancestors with each other, and while it comes from a sad fact, that collective honoring is a beautiful thing in itself.
Coming back to those constitutional rights, as a writer and artist, I am especially grateful for the freedom of speech and that right to the freedom of expression, which has defined my week leading up to this Juneteenth.
I’ve been blessed to experience the expression of a myriad of stunning Black art, music and stories this week, and in the centuries-old tradition of communally honoring our ancestors, I have felt, laughed, cried, and been reminded of myself in the deepest parts of my soul.
It’s what I’ll share with you today:
• Alvin Ailey’s Dance Theater reminded me of the gracious strength in our vulnerability
• Jean-Michel Basquiat reminded me of the humility in our royalty- the generational impact that can be found in the passionate conviction to one’s truth
• Hadestown reminded me of the heaven-shaking joy in our unbounded capacity to love, even in the darkest hours of grief
• My team reminded me of the power in unity and empathy
• And my mother reminded me that I, like my ancestors, do not stand alone. They found a way to join hands with those of a different race and life experience to chip away at the centuries of odds stacked against them
I am grateful for the freedoms I do have, and I am unrelenting in the pursuit of a better country, singing the joys of both progress and promise from the arms of my ancestors.
Happy Juneteenth.
R.S.
Photo credit: Jean-Michel Basquiat, courtesy of the New York exhibit, Jean-Michel-Basquiat: King Pleasure, curated by his family.
