Celebrate and Honor

Today we celebrate Major General Gordon Granger’s arrival in Galveston, Texas to deliver the news that the war was over, and ALL SLAVES WERE FREE.

Today we celebrate that our friends and neighbors are able to live freely.

Today we also remember those who didn’t make it.

We honor those who chose the sea. We honor those forced down by those sworn to protect them.

While today is a celebration we must never forget that Black Lives STILL Matter. Slowly we make progress, one protest at a time. But we must dismantle the systems built to hold black people, and people of color, down. The movement is less trendy as the weeks progress but the work must still be done. This is a movement, not a moment; a marathon, not a sprint.

We must honor those before before us and those taken too soon, with REAL SUBSTANTIAL CHANGE. Today is a great day for Breonna Taylor’s killers to be arrested. While one officer was fired, it is not enough; the union allows them to be rehired. Two officers were placed on “administrative reassignment”, which again, is not enough. They were all complicit in Breonna’s murder and deserve the repercussions that accompany such a crime.

While some companies have started doing so, Juneteenth should be a paid federal holiday.