Sometimes I try and imagine a world, a society, a community where black people are allowed to thrive and not just navigate around the many, many systemic barriers in place. Sometimes I try to picture what it would be like to walk around streets where my accomplishments aren’t a surprise. Then I remember, this is a reality that we once achieved. It is not a figment of my imagination.
In the 1920s, the Black Wall Street was a thriving community of black-owned businesses and homes located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. An enormous network of black professionals lived and worked within their community, bringing pride and prosperity to their community. Within the Greenwood district there were grocery stores, drug stores, barber shops, movie theaters, restaurants, banks, hotels, churches, funeral homes, and all kinds of business. In fact, Tulsa was not the only city flourishing with black excellence; similar communities boomed in Colfax, Louisiana in 1873, Wilmington, North Carolina in 1898; Atlanta, Georgia in 1906; Elaine, Arkansas in 1919; and Rosewood, Florida in 1923. Tragically, one-by-one these neighborhoods were burnt down and black people were brutally massacred by white mobs, whose terror was facilitated by government inaction.
Black people have been enslaved, oppressed, targeted, and treated unjustly throughout the centuries. The wealth and success of these communities of our past did not protect them from racist destruction. Juneteenth represents liberation and hope. The foundation of that hope is the persevering spirit of black people, knowing we have achieved success. We do not have to imagine it; we must remember it.
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