For those who are unaware of the significance of Juneteenth, while the Emancipation Proclamation had formally freed slaves, some states continued to hold slaves nearly two and a half years after they were declared free. While the exact date is unknown, Juneteenth represents a period of days in June 1865 when the last known slaves in America became free. This time is a moment of celebration in the Black American community.
Today for the first time, many companies across the US join in to acknowledge this day as a holiday and a time for both the organization and the employees to look inward and reflect on how they can promote and support the Black community. For those still on the awareness spectrum of systemic racism, below are some great resources to take you along that journey as you start having meaningful conversations with your family and friends.
Today as I celebrate Juneteenth, I will be sipping on this Blackity Black Cocktail, rewatching Cooley High, and basking in the beauty that is Black culture. While this time off, and the world's new found acknowledgment of racial injustices against Black people doesn't lessen the pain that Black people across the world have felt for years, it does mark a needed shift and offers hope that this time things can change. As the world and social media illuminate the systems that are in place that fuel systemic racism and oppression, today Black people take a pause to unite in the ultimate form of resistance --- Black Joy!
The many gifts that Black people have brought to this world from music, math, science, technology, food, and our culture, these can only be outmatched by our resiliency as a people!
How are you celebrating Juneteenth?
Juneteenth Blackity Black Cocktail (aka Berry Black)
4 Blackberries (any berry can do, but the blacker the berry the sweeter the juice)
5 mint leaves (in honor of the Black collective Fresh!), plus extra for garnish
.7 oz Pineapple simple syrup (in acknowledgement of the first industries enslaved Africans taken to the Caribbean were forced to work, sugar industries played a large role in the Atlantic slave trade.) Use a 1:1 ratio of water and sugar to create a syrup
2 oz Rum (sugar byproducts created molasses, which was then turned to rum, which was later traded to Africa for more slaves-- the start of oppressive systems), Congac of Bourbon can also work as a substitute
1.5 oz Pomegranate juice (to match the tart and sweetness of the Black experience)
.8 oz Ginger Beer (to evoke Black people's spiciness and effervescence)
Optional Sugar Rim** (2 tablespoons of brown sugar, a pinch of sea salt to mark the travel across the Atlantic, and a pinch of ground ginger powder)
To assemble:
Place berries, pineapple syrup, and mint leaves in the bottom of your glass, gently muddle four to five times to release the essential oils in the mint and the juices of the berries.
Add the Rum, pomegranate juice, and 5 ice cubes into the glass and gently stir 20 times until the glass becomes chilled. Top the glass up with the ginger beer of your choice.
**If rimming your glass (which I highly recommend!), combine all rim ingredients in a plate. Brush the rim of your cocktail glass with a lime wedge, or dip the inverted glass in a bit of water. Then place the glass rim in the sugar mixture.
I found these first edition books at an Antique Faire a few years ago, this book was published in 1890-- twenty five years after the last known slave in America was freed in 1865. I recalled learning about Henry Stanley in history class as a child, he was a known explorer and wrote several books including In Darkest Africa. His explorations and depictions of Africa helped to prompt the "Scramble for Africa." Colonization and European Imperialism would thread white supremacy across the continent of Africa, and the effects of that is marked to this day. Today this book is an expensive coaster with a Blackity Black Cocktail perched on top--- and it makes the drink all the sweeter.
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Learning resources, books, and movies to promote awareness on anti-racism.
Books:
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle
Alexander
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism by Robin DiAngelo
Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins
Videos, Films, and Podcasts:
● Ibram X. Kendi on How to be an Antiracist at UC Berkeley on September 12, 2019
● Video Message to Staff, May 31, 2020 from Sunny Lee, Assistant Vice Chancellor &
Dean of Students and Samuel Santos, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Student Engagement
● 1619 from New York Times | An audio series on how slavery has transformed America
● Code Switch from NPR | A podcast hosted by a multi-racial, multi-generational team of
journalists
● Seeing White from Scene On Radio | 14 part documentary series from 2017
● Now, More Than Ever, We Need The ARTS! from Cal Performances | A series of
performing arts videos for a time of physical distancing
● 13th Film | 2 hours | Netflix | In this documentary, scholars, activists and politicians
analyze the criminalization of African Americans and the U.S. prison boom.
● When They See Us | 4 episodes | Netflix | Based on a true story, five teens from Harlem
become trapped in a nightmare when they're falsely accused of a brutal attack in Central
Park.
Pod Save the People DeRay Mckesson explores news, culture, social justice, and politics with fellow activists Brittany Packnett Cunningham and Sam Sinyangwe, and writer Dr. Clint Smith.
● United States of Anxiety from WNYC. Connects the present with the past and explores racial politics in the US.
Articles:
Allyship (& Accomplice): The What, Why, and How by Michelle Kim | Medium
(November 10, 2019)
Why You Need to Stop Saying "All Lives Matter" by Rachel Elizabeth Cargle |
Harper’s Bazaar (April 16, 2019)
“Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?” by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi | Atlantic (May 12,
2020)
On George Floyd and the struggle to belong by Denise Herd | Othering &
Belonging Institute (May 29, 2020)
