The Swamp logo

The Butt Hurt of Juneteenth

And Their Colorful Cheeks

By Nakia DeonPublished 3 years ago 11 min read
1
The Butt Hurt of Juneteenth
Photo by Ernest Brillo on Unsplash

All people of all colors from all over the country came out in droves to celebrate America’s newest recognized holiday.

That’s what I wanted the headlines to read anyway.

I’m sure there were pockets of party people that looked like the rainbow in some backyards but unfortunately we didn’t find that to be the case all over the country and certainly not all over the world wide web.

What did we expect? This is America. This is Earth - a place where caste systems and colorism exists from shiny blue streams to twinkling green seas.

Just weeks after commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Greenwood Massacre we can clearly see that white jealousy is still alive and well. A holiday that commemorates the end of slavery sounds way too much like black people trying to be uppity to folks who would prefer that we didn’t speak about black progress in America at all.

Butt hurt conservative White folks (and some liberals) shouldn’t surprise anyone. What should not only shock but also be of some serious concern is the way the rest of America got their cheeks all rosy red about Juneteenth as well.

I first noticed the tension in the air when I went to my friendly neighborhood corner store to get some incense. The guy at the register was very helpful. He even came from behind the counter to show me the incense options. We joked a little and laughed as I checked out. As I was leaving the store I told the young man “Happy Juneteenth”.

His entire demeanor changed. He wasn’t rude and didn’t even say anything out of his mouth but his body language was shooing me off.

Dismissing my “Happy Juneteenth” like it didn’t apply to him at all.

I’m not sure where he was from so I’m not going to attempt to say what race he was. The fact that he wasn’t from this country shouldn’t have stopped him from saying “Happy Juneteenth” back.

I’ll put a trip back to that store on my calendar for July 4th, just so I can see if he reacts the same way when I mention Independence Day.

Throughout the day I noticed a slight tension in the air from White people when I went into the bigger stores outside of my little neck of the hood. I understood that. I’m used to living with that feeling after racially enhanced events. The election of Barack Obama, the murder of George Floyd, etc.

Heck, black folks get that kind of tension in stores on a daily basis anyway. I didn’t let it bother me anymore than usual.

I still enjoyed my day. I saw Black people enjoying themselves. I saw a country acknowledging its history even if only a trickle at a time. I saw hope in my own eyes.

And then my eyes got glued to the internet later on that evening.

So many beautiful videos about Juneteenth were posted with so many ugly comments in full on attack mode marching in white and brown unison under them.

I laughed at most of the comments I read because what else can you do? Ignorance is real. If there ever was a need for more proof that Critical Race Theory is long overdue in America’s schools - comments about Juneteenth were all the proof we will ever need.

Some of the comments had the date completely wrong and said things like “I will never celebrate June 15th.” Others got the date right but the name wrong and said stuff like “Junenineteenth is the stupidest holiday ever.”

There were people who were upset that they never heard of Juneteenth and since they never heard of it it shouldn’t exist at all. Far too many comments complained about it being a “made up” holiday...you know, because Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween etc were given to us on the back of the stone tablets the ten commandments were written on.

There were comments demanding a “White Holiday” and comments declaring that America’s new holiday was “not my holiday.”

Some of those commenters had colorful names. Not your average Toms, Dicks or Beckys. They had last names like Ruiz and Hernandez, Chen and Chang.

The profile pictures were exotically all encompassing. Faces covered or dotted for religious reasons sitting proudly next to comments sounding like demons.

It was disturbing to say the least. Some of the hateful comment leavers looked darker than me and yet their words sounded like good old fashion white speak.

We can all understand why some White Americans may not want to talk about the penny’s worth of progress Black Americans have made in this country but what has some of these other people’s panties in a bunch?

Afterall, Juneteenth isn’t just a Black holiday now and it never should have been. It’s an American Holiday. All Americans should celebrate the end of such a dark time in American history. Especially those who kept commenting about how we should all just get over it.

Those same people would not tell the Jews to stop celebrating Passover and just get over it.

But we all know the rules morph the lower you go in America’s caste system.

Which is one of the reasons I believe the other “people of color” have a problem with Juneteenth.

Progress for the bottom caste means rules have been broken.

The majority rule is a powerful tool especially when white status is so up for grabs now.

White Supremacy isn’t all about skin color; just ask the poor Whites in America. White Supremacy is about money and power. There is power in whiteness and whiteness can be achieved like a status symbol if you fight hard enough and can somewhat fit the part - as the Irish and the Italians have proven over the years.

We aren’t just talking colorism even though Lin-Manuel Miranda’s, In The Heights, just proved that some “people of color” can be light enough to benefit from White Supremacy on skin tone alone

It goes far deeper than color.

Achieving “Whiteness” in America is just as easy for people from China as it is for people from India. Especially when you come from a culture that is already ingrained with hatred for darker skin tones. You know how this American system works and you get in where you fit in.

If you don’t fit all the way into White Supremacy by skin tone or pedigree there are other ways to get money, power and respect in America aren’t there.? I mean you aren’t at the top of the food chain but at least you aren’t on the bottom right?

Build a business in a black community. Exploit their American nightmare for your American dream and you too can benefit from this hierarchy like a white supremacist.

Juneteenth is the celebration of an enslaved people finally gaining freedom. The word “gain” in that sentence alone is frightening to people who achieve their American dream off the backs of America’s disenfranchised. A gain for Blacks feels like a loss for everyone else.

Of course they are mad.

If Black people continue to make gains in this country who will the other “people of color” stand on?

They are pissed off.

But give it time. Everything happened so fast that the corner store couldn’t capitalize off of it like it can off of all the other holidays. Once everyone figures out how to get that Black dollar every year on June 19th all will be fake smiles and high priced red, black, and green flags.

Behind closed doors though, the majority of the country will always have a problem with Juneteenth and that’s troubling. That’s why Black people question whether we should be sharing this holiday with the entire country or not since it’s gonna be hated on so much.

It also makes you wonder about why there is so much resistance to celebrating something so beautiful like freedom. Why is celebrating freedom for any group at any time in history such a divisive thing? And why is the division split in so many colorful ways?

Why are holidays that have nothing to do with America, like St. Patrick’s Day and Cinco de Mayo, so embraced by everyone including Black people, while a holiday as American as red velvet cake like Juneteenth is not?

I’ll tell you why.

It’s disrespectful to the hierarchy.

Black people are no longer under a 400 year curse and that has people on the internet cursing each other out over a holiday while probably living beside BLM signs in neighborhoods where there are hints of modern day diversity - but Black people are still harassed for making food deliveries.

To the people who have been celebrating Juneteenth for the longest, it’s common knowledge that the day is less about a party than it is about a meeting of Black minds.

It’s about Black people gathering to not only give honor to the ancestors but to also give focus to the future. A time to address the needs of the present. A time to enjoy your friends and family but also help your neighbor.

Juneteenth is Black empowerment.

What was one of Black America’s best kept little secrets has now gone viral and the internet is showing it’s truest colors in the deepest and darkest disdain ever to be thrown at freedom kind of way.

They aren’t just mad, they are fearful.

If Black folks keep having such powerful meetings we may start talking business. If we start talking business, we may start building businesses and connections with each other. Circling the Black Dollar. Leaving behind the corporate plantation for entrepreneurship. Building black communities.

Scary thought indeed for the security of the higher caste.

Think about that Black communities part for a minute.

Chinatown doesn’t make anybody feel butt hurt but as mentioned before with the bombing of Black Wall Street; the thought of a self contained, booming Black community not only makes whites angry but everybody else benefiting from White Supremacy as well.

There is currently a housing crisis in this country and Black Americans make up 40% of the homeless population because White people aren’t the only ones benefiting from gentrification.

Imagine if the bottom caste decided to get together and devise a plan to compete with everyone else for a roof over our heads. Even though some folks can get loans easier than others, the added competition isn’t wanted by anyone anywhere.

What if more of Black Americans became the landlords and actually rented fairly to more Black people?

Oh the caste system catastrophe.

So folks run to social media to voice their rainbow-coalition, racist opinions from the safety of their keyboards, with their burning hot little tushes in their plush little chairs. Them and their White counterparts, lead by Candace Owens, all ready to fight for their right to demand Black Americans stay-down-there.

Juneteenth is too new to them; although it was around before most of the angry commenters were born and way before all those who weren’t born here stepped foot on this soil and put fingertips to the words they are so flippantly posting online.

Words that only serve to show the rest of the world (the good people in the world, the ones who have a heart) that things haven’t changed much in America since 1865.

Words that inflame and hurt and yet light up the right people in the process.

The process of such a time as this.

Yes, some white people and some “people of color” in this country are not happy with me feeling moved to tell them “Happy Juneteenth”, but thank Black Jesus that some ain’t everybody.

Times are a changin’

Let’s also take a moment to thank Black Jesus for the internet and smartphone cameras.

The internet is so powerful that not only can Black Americans no longer be held back from knowledge but the rest of the world can’t be either. While Black America is learning how to come up with help from YouTube University, the rest of the world is learning how we’ve been systematically held down with help from dash cam videos.

The internet is one of the best things that ever happened to Black liberation and we will continue to use it for our benefit even as our multinational haters use it to bitch and moan.

The more they bitch the more their own more progressive friends and family members get tired of it.

The more they post their hate the more we are validated for saying race relations in this country still desperately needs to change.

This time next year hopefully more will have changed and the comments won’t be so harsh. Hopefully all of America will be more educated about not only the actual date of Juneteenth but the true meaning and call to action behind it. Hopefully it will fully be embraced as an AMERICAN holiday and not just a Black holiday.

It doesn’t matter if you are Black or White or any shade in between. It doesn’t even matter if your citizenship status is legal or not. You’re in America now. This is her history. A history that made the American Dream that you seek a thing in the first place.

The wealth of this country was built on free black labor and you benefit no matter if you've been here for generations or just a hot minute.

Put some respect on Juneteenth’s name up in this melting pot.

If you educate yourself and act right and pull your angry panties out of your crack and make good potato salad (after you wash your hands)- you might just get invited to next year’s cookout.

opinion
1

About the Creator

Nakia Deon

Nakia Deon is a poet, playwright, essayist and all around black and bold goddess of words.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.