Don’t Let Juneteenth Be a Trend With No Real Action

Today is the now nationally recognized holiday, Juneteenth, and as glad as I am that good ol’ Joe and them folks there made this symbolic move, I still find myself with similar sentiments to last year.

Here is the caption to a (now archived) post I shared on my personal Instagram account this past Juneteenth.

I’m happy and annoyed at the same time.. you know how when you’ve been super into an underground artist that no one else really paid any attention to , or even heard of ; then all of a sudden everyone is all “yaaaass Molly Sue ! I been loving you” & you’re thinking “no.. you haven’t . you actually made me turn her off when I tried to play her for you” .. you’re glad to see her finally get the attention she deserves , but you still have your eyebrow raised about these bandwagon fans 🤨⠀

I don’t ever want to be confused with someone doing something simply because it’s trending, or that’s what they “should be doing right now” — especially when it’s something I’m as passionate about as Black history , culture & rights . ⠀though I’m excited to see all the rallying around causes , businesses and celebrations for American descendants of slaves , I can’t help but to be a teensy weensy bit skeptical . are you making behavioral changes offline , or are you only sharing viral posts on Insta ? do you genuinely care deeply , or doing it for show ? are you serious about this , or another “bandwagon fan” ? 🤨⠀

I suppose I can’t control people (unfortunately, ugh!) .. but I can talk about y’all , lol.. lemme leave y’all ‘lone & keep doing what I do — maintaining a lifestyle dedicated to uplifting and supporting my people 🖤

All I’m going to say is, please, don’t let this be a trend without real action.

Don’t post Juneteenth imagery to your timelines and not be committed to progression offline.

An easy way to support a move toward economic freedom of Black, historically underprivileged, people is by supporting small Black business.

Make purchases at two different Black-owned businesses in Los Angeles, or wherever you may be, today.

We can talk about more ways, but I’ll save those words for a social or political outlet. For now, we’re here in the “While in Los Angeles… BUY BLACK,” so we’ll talk about that. Click those highlighted words to check out businesses with Black ownership, leadership, or major affiliation. Then, check out more aroundLA.