Juneteenth is right around the corner. But, with the tasteless ‘Juneteenth red velvet and cheesecake ice cream,’ and ‘It’s the Freedom for Me’ napkins and plates and corporate Juneteenth paraphernalia, companies like Walmart are dragged on social media.
“Corporate America has found a way to commercialize the emancipation of enslaved people,” wrote Jezebel.com’s Khalisa Rae. “America loves to co-opt a revolution and sell it back to people like they’re doing us a favor.”
It is a day to “commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the U.S.,” says Crowder. Not one to make a fast, and offensively-gained buck. “For years after that it was a holiday where they got dressed up. There’s beautiful images from back then, but if you fast forward…the truth of the matter is that none of us, particularly young people, have really learned the full gambit of United States history, and so this conversation about Juneteenth started happening a few years ago.” The Houston, Texas native learnt about the holiday when she was young, she said, but so many of her peers and the younger generations have not.
The challenge, she said, is that federal holidays become “commodified. Look at Cinco de Mayo. People don’t even know what it is about, but they show up and eat a taco. And so my hope is that for those of us who have that lineage that we ourselves would decide what feels like libration for us, and we celebrate based on that. For people who do not have that lineage, my recommendation is to do your homework and to learn more about it.
“Why aren’t those organizations looking for ways to directly impact communities, impact Black-owned businesses during that time period? To me, moving that wealth over is absolutely a direct and appropriate through-line considering what enslaved folks went through and what that meant for their families; the lack of economic wealth, the labor that was used and exploited.
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