White people celebrating Juneteenth

White people should be celebrating Juneteenth in the U.S. Celebrate the end of slavery; as everyone should. Slavery was horrible, nasty, and terrible for the whole country (and world), but more so for minoritized groups. Celebrating the end of slavery is something everyone can get behind.

What should not happen, and I’m talking to fellow white people, is us taking ownership of the holiday, or talking about how white people (like Lincoln…) were the ones that actually ended slavery, and celebrating what white people did to end slavery. Of course they are the ones that ended slavery. What black elected official was going to end slavery? Oh right, they were all slaves. The U.S. didn’t have a Haitian Revolution. It still took hundreds of years to end slavery, and it was still something white people didn’t want to do. The job here, white people, is to celebrate the win, and then get back to continuing the work.

Be allies. Celebrate the end of slavery. Commit to being anti-racist today and for the rest of your life. Be the white person that uses the systems of power under your influence and/or control to end racist practices and policies. And just make it happen. You do not need a statue or BIPOC to hand you a cookie for your efforts. You should be doing it because it is what needs to be done, and it’s the right thing to do.

Celebrate the end of slavery. Celebrate emancipation. Do not take credit. Make things better.