Celebrate Black Writers on Juneteenth
and always.
Hi all,
Today is Juneteenth—and I had no idea what that was until maybe a week ago. Learning about the significance of this day has provided one of many recent realizations that I (and most non-Black Americans) have failed to learn about, appreciate, support, and uphold Black history and Black lives.
If you, like me, didn’t know: Juneteenth marks the day that Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to share the news that slaves were finally free. The Emancipation Proclamation had been signed two years prior, but it took that long for word to reach slaves in Texas, as plantation owners largely ignored the decree (and many would continue to do so). This year, Juneteenth is being honored more widely than ever, among protests and a surge of support for racial justice and equality.
Instead of sending you the usual Friday newsletter I had planned, I’ve decided to spend some extra time reading about this important day in U.S. history and what it means to Black writers. Below you’ll find stories about Juneteenth and the significance of these weeks of protest.
But first: Support Black Authors #Blackpublishingpower
Do you know about #BlackPublishingPower? The initiative, started by Amistad Books, encourages people to buy two books by black authors by June 20th (that’s tomorrow!) in an effort to fill bestseller lists with Black authors. Here are lists of books about racism, upcoming releases, and non-fiction books by black women to get you started. The initiative ends tomorrow, but diversifying your book shelf should really be a forever commitment.
Also! Order your books from these black-owned book stores.
Read These Stories by Black Writers
(Image source: James Eades // Image content: Hand above crowd holding sign that reads “It’s a privilege to educate yourself about racism instead of experiencing it.)
“The fact that slaveholders extracted thirty additional months of uncompensated labor from people who had been bought, sold, and worked to exhaustion, like livestock, throughout their lives is cause for mourning, not celebration. In honoring that moment, we should recognize a moral at the heart of that day in Galveston and in the entirety of American life: there is a vast chasm between the concept of freedom inscribed on paper and the reality of freedom in our lives.” Juneteenth and the Meaning of Freedom by Jelani Cobb
“To be Black in this nation is to constantly exist in abundant joy and adoration of your culture, alongside a deep frustration and restlessness with your country’s inability to rectify its oldest, most painful ills.” Celebrating Juneteenth in 2020 is an Act of Resistance by Kayla Stewart
“Think of viral content as multiple layers of abstraction: Instead of the faces of the dead being amplified, one can only see your support, how virtuous and wonderful you are for sharing this post. The focus becomes the self, as with Open Casket, instead of the fatality. The focus becomes death, instead of life.” Abstract Pain: George Floyd and the Viral Spectacle of Death by Dede Akolo
“As “black lives matter” rings out from the mouths of protesters and corporations alike, what will it take to build an America where those three words are a statement of fact — not a fight for survival?” The Power of Black Lives Matter by Jamil Smith
“We protest to stop at least one cycle of trauma the Black community has experienced since we’ve stepped on the shores of the Americas. We are yelling out our visceral pain we inherited in the form of protest, demanding that being Black should not come with a target on your back.” On Juneteenth, Black People Are Using Are Using Protest to Shed Intergenerational Trauma by Ignacia Fulcher
“What is supposed to be a celebration of the end of an economic and social system that commodified the lives of enslaved Black people should remind us that slavery was never abolished, but rather reformed and reorganized.” There is No Queer Liberation Without Prison Abolishment by Gem Nwanne
I’ll be back in your inbox with a Q&A this weekend. And next week! I’m launching paid subscriptions so there will lots of extras and news coming at ya. Enjoy some fresh air this weekend.