I was hoping to get a blog post out this morning – but, if I’m honest, it has taken me this long to get anywhere close to organizing my thoughts.
I am thrilled, delighted, relieved, and proud that the US government has finally, finally made Juneteenth a federal holiday.
I am also not quite sure how to spend it, as a white person.
I’ve heard some really good arguments, which I think I agree with, that this is not a day for white people to celebrate. This is a day for the black community to spend however its people might choose – celebration, grief, remembrance, etc.
But what I’ve heard less of is alternative suggestions of how white people should spend the day. Certainly, I think, if we can manage not to let it slip by like any other day, that’s a start.
Education, perhaps.
Remembrance, too, I think. But also grief. And reflection.
While I’m almost positive that no one reading this blog is a slaveowner, that doesn’t absolve us from the problems surrounding race in our country. Regardless of what our ancestors did or didn’t do, certainly, as white Americans, we are part of and benefit from the ongoing injustices based on race in America – personal prejudices and systemic contributions alike.
Perhaps today we can spend thinking not about the part we don’t play, but the part we do. The things we can control. The places we can start to take action.
Looking at this summer’s AntiRacism Challenge materials is a good start for all that reflection.
But here are a few more places to begin:
I hope you might learn something from these short listens. I hope you might ask some really good questions.
I hope you might join me in being uncomfortable today, and in being okay with that. Discomfort can be a sign of growth, and certainly that’s as good a goal as any.
Yours,
Pastor Jen
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