A Day Late.
Why does New Jersey think it's okay to observe Juneteenth on June 20th?
Juneteenth has always been ours to celebrate and commemorate. Now, it is the federal holiday nobody asked for. As a pacifier after George Floyd’s murder, Biden’s team tossed America a day off to mark something Black people were already taking off and celebrating. Go figure. And honestly, if there’s one thing I wish Trump would roll back, it’s this national observance of Juneteenth. Nobody but Black folks earned a day of rest here. White America is precisely why the holiday exists in the first place.
Since moving to New Jersey, I’ve learned that the Garden State plays by its own rules, especially when it comes to the calendar school year. My girls log way more classroom hours than they did in New York City, and the cadence of holidays and half-days is entirely different than that of the NYCDOE. I respect Jersey’s stinginess with days off—except when it comes to Juneteenth.
This year, the state chose not to honor Juneteenth on June 19th itself. Instead, officials bumped the holiday to Friday, June 20th, gifting everyone a long weekend. It’s a major pet peeve because not everyone deserves that perk. If we’re keeping it a buck, I would’ve kept my kids home had it just been a regular school day.
But here’s the kicker.
On Juneteenth, my girls had a half-day of school, with business as usual, and my middle-schooler graduated that morning. The district scheduled a graduation ceremony on the very date that marks white America’s delay in recognizing enslaved people’s freedom. Scheduling a graduation on a day like Juneteenth, especially in times like these? Wild disrespectful.
My first instinct? March into that school board meeting, belt-to-ass, and raise hell. Second instinct: talk to my daughter about skipping the ceremony in protest. But I couldn’t. Middle school graduation is a big deal, and there weren’t enough students willing to sit it out to make the action hit. Doing it alone wasn’t going to make a difference, so I stopped making myself crazy with overthinking. I’m always down for a protest, but before engaging, I have to ask myself, “What impact will this have, and more importantly, what happens afterward?”
Final thought? Put myself on the school board ballot, get elected, and really raise hell next year. Advocacy for the community is always the move. Best believe, they’re gonna be sick of me.
But, I was pissed off “NOW”, at the graduation as I sat in sweltering heat in the school auditorium. What was I going to do NOW? As a form of immediate protest to calm my nerves, I sat down during the Pledge of Allegiance, sipped my coffee, and smiled at all the stares of the people standing around me. They were a tad salty as I sat while they stood with their hands over their hearts, reciting cult words that don’t apply to me.
“The Pledge of Allegiance? Star Spangled Banner? Not Tuh-Day!”
I reminded myself that Juneteenth is for us, not them. Having a graduation on a day this poignant? That’s a blessing from the ancestors. The disrespect of a post-Juneteenth “observance” just proves people don’t respect the history. And trust—there will be no July 4th activity from me because on July 4th, 1776, as per the Declaration of Independence, everybody wasn’t free, and there was no justice for all.
Still ain’t.