This morning is muggy and humid. Saharan dust has made its yearly pilgrimage across the ocean and suppressed our normal summer tropical systems. Our heat index is predicted to be 112 degrees today. At 8:30 in the morning I am already sweating.
This morning as I walked the sidewalks of the neighborhood village, I came across a clapboard sign declaring “Celebrate Juneteenth With Us!” in pink chalk letters. In medicine we rarely acknowledge federal holidays and we certainly can not count on extra days off or holiday pay. Still, as I read the sign I thought about the meaning of Juneteenth and how it represents a wonderful day in our American history. It is certainly a day worth celebrating. Putting a final end to the evil institution of slavery was a victory for all Americans. It was a victory for all human beings. And it was only the first step towards making things right.
Juneteenth is our newest federal holiday. The holiday is currently surrounded by a great deal of confusion. Businesses, corporations, and cities are still working out how to mindfully and respectfully promote celebrations. Some Americans find the holiday a bit controversial. I consider it a celebration of survivors.
As I walked past the sign, I thought about what a beautiful day the original Juneteenth must have been. It was a day when an entire race of survivors marked an end to the greatest of multi-generational traumas. As a survivor of a series of very different traumas, I know that the end of the trauma simply marks the beginning of a much harder phase of healing. For many African Americans it is a healing that is still in the process of happening.
I am not African American and do not understand what it is like to live with such a trauma in my history. As a survivor of other trauma, I do know it is very hard to put down the weight of such a burden when it feels like the trauma is fresh and recurrent. It seems to me that many Americans who say callously “it’s in the past, get over it,” are not only insensitive but also not familiar with trauma or how it is processed.
You can’t simply “get over” trauma, particularly when you still feel stigmatized and when it feels like what you have been through has been minimized by society. In recent years when African Americans talk about the trauma of slavery and all of the burdens and hardships that were born of that time and have been passed generation to generation into the present, those experiences are rarely met with empathy. Instead fingers are pointed, blame is cast, and the trauma is minimized which only deepens the injury.
I can’t relate personally to this injury, it didn’t happen to me or my ancestors, but I can acknowledge it. I can listen to the expressions of hurt and disappointment from those who did and do experience it with empathy and an open heart. It takes nothing away from me to do so. Doing so does not lessen or devalue my own struggles. It simply acknowledges that someone else has experienced trauma and and the devastating after affects. That experience is hard and painful no matter who you are. Working through trauma takes time and much energy.
To the African Americans who are still carrying the burden of this history I can say with genuine empathy that I am sorry. I am so very sorry that you have had to carry this weight. I am so sorry you are hurting. Healing takes the time it takes and sometimes the recovery from great traumas takes generations. You are a survivor. I hear you. I see you. I respect your experience. Take all the time you need.
And so, this Juneteenth, I will celebrate not with branded ice cream or pan African colored party plates, but by patronizing African American owned businesses and acknowledging the unique hardships African Americans experience. I will celebrate by acknowledging African American success, perseverance, and triumph over extreme adversity.
So here’s to celebrating the survivors! Here’s to your triumph! Here’s to your success! Here’s to Juneteenth!
