Juneteenth, the celebration of an ongoing battle by Deniseea Taylor

I'll start off with this: when most people think about black history, they think of February. Black Music Appreciation Month starting on June 1st and Juneteenth (June 19th) are usually pushed into the background as secondary.

Here are the facts: Juneteenth is the celebration of what was initially labeled "Freedom Day" (also "Jubilee Day" or "Emancipation Day").

June 19th, 1865, is the date general Gordon Granger arrived in Texas to enforce freedom to the slaves. President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation had officially outlawed slavery almost two and a half years earlier, in 1862. Enforcement of the Proclamation generally relied on the advance of the Union troops. Texas being the most remote slave states, enforcement had been slow and inconsistent, quasi non-existent, before Granger's arrival.

A year later, the former slaves put together enough money to buy a little piece of land where the initial celebration took place safely. As people started to migrate outside of Texas, the awareness of the holiday spread out.

My bittersweet feeling about it comes from the fact that 156 years later, this emancipation is still an ongoing fight. The Black Lives Matter demonstrations after the murders we watched on TV are a shred of supporting evidence. Technically, we can't be enslaved by law, but we still are in so many other ways.

Juneteenth should be reversing the brainwash that was imposed on all of us. Let's take July 4th as a "freedom day," for instance. How can it be a celebration of freedom for the country when the people with my skin color were still slaves for 89 more years? More people celebrate Valentine's Day and Halloween than the liberation of an enslaved people that is, in many ways, the country's backbone.

Maybe it is time that we talk about the normalization of being black in America. Heck! Let's talk about being a black woman in America. Sometimes I wonder where I would be in my career if I had blue eyes, blond hair, and I went to a fancy workout program every day. The image speaks by itself, though.

On another side, so many years ago, there was no way my black ass would have been able to have this conversation. Our voices are being heard and somewhat normalized very slowly. It's the little things, the little pieces put together that make a difference. Putting this cocktail and this piece together for Dahlia and putting it in front of people normalizes my voice. It's a good thing. We got to start somewhere. It's the little stuff that inspires. They are the spark for something bigger. Something that will have us transcend this horrendous 400 years chapter in our history. Our original languages being stripped away. Our names being taken away and replaced. Our presence being erased from the history books except for a couple paragraphs about slavery.

Racism and white supremacy won't disappear quickly. It will take longer to erase than it took for racism to come to existence. We have figured out Covid and most of the human diseases but not racism. It's so embedded and passed along from generation to generation. For every act of racism, we need 100 little acts of empathy, understanding. For one white supremacist, we need ten thousand allies. In this seemingly never-ending fight, I… we find solace in the knowledge that black folks literally built the country. You see black folks expertise from the old shotgun houses of New Orleans to basically everywhere in the country. It's our imprint on the land. Our threads are woven in American culture.

This is why a holiday like Juneteenth should bring people together in the understanding of a people and our fight for equality. We conquer by being together, and we achieve by celebrating.

(NB: the 40 minutes long conversation has been edited for clarity to fit into our limited space)

Talmbout

While making this cocktail, I wanted an ingredient that played an essential role in my childhood cookouts with family. While challenging myself, I thought of sweet potatoes. I envisioned this cocktail being rich and abundant because that's how I personally interpret Juneteenth. We are celebrating the road to freedom and equality, and we want it in abundance.

INGREDIENTS

1.5 oz Tequila Dahlia

0.5 oz Lemon Juice

1.5 oz Pineapple Juice

1 oz Sweet Potato Syrup (yup, it's good AF)***

METHOD

Add all ingredients in a shaker tin filled with ice.

Shake briskly for 15 seconds.

Strain over crushed ice and garnish with lemon or pineapple wedge.

***Sweet Potato Syrup

INGREDIENTS

1 Can Sweet Potatoes in Syrup

0.5 cup Caramel Syrup

2 Cups Sugar

1 cup Hot Water

Dash of Cinnamon & Nutmeg

METHOD

Bring water to a boil and add sugar as if you are making regular simple syrup.

Pour the content of a can of sweet potatoes (drained) into a blender and add simple syrup, caramel, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Blend until the mixture is a smooth liquid consistency.