Because we forgot Juneteenth

Isn't it ironic
to celebrate something
we've forgotten?

Juneteenth, Juneteenth, we cry
When slavery ended!

And then we turn our eyes downward
to our mobile phones
Instead of upward
to the sky.

We ignore the baby gurgling
The child wanting to play
The pet needing a loving word
The book waiting to be read

We ignore the garden
the forest, the paths
we once walked.
The 'beep' is a more urgent call
than bird song.

We are slaves
to the forwards and the memes
those thieves
of hours.

Juneteenth, Juneteenth, we cry
When slavery ended!

And then we pay plastic money
for plastic things
we don't need
because we are slaves
to the advertisements
and to keeping up with the Joneses,
whoever the Joneses might be.

Juneteenth, Juneteenth, we cry
When slavery ended!

And then we kill animals for fashion
and we shame those who look different
because we are slaves
to our insecurity
and to the age old belief
that beauty is really skin deep.

Juneteenth, Juneteenth, we cry
When slavery ended!

And we don't recognize it anymore
Because we put the shackles on voluntarily
and all the locks are on the inside
but the keys haven't yet been made.

Juneteenth, Juneteenth, we cry
Can we end slavery today?

About Juneteenth ▼

Background Information
Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger and his troops arrived at Galveston on June 19, 1865, with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. ... The term Juneteenth is a blend of the words June and nineteenth. The holiday has also been called Juneteenth Independence Day or Freedom Day