Juneteenth Day takes place Wednesday June 19, 2024 in the USA. The ending of slavery in the USA in 1865 is celebrated in many cities around the country. In 2024 let’s add a new tradition to celebrating Juneteenth Day. African Americans should make Juneteenth Day resolutions in the same manner people do New Years resolutions.
“Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty we are free at last.” Martin Luther King, Jr., stated these words in his, I Have A Dream speech. African Americans are free in 2024. If African Americans are going to remain free, they need to create some guidelines and expectations for themselves. This is where the resolutions come into play. Many people make resolutions for the new year and stick to them. True, by February or March the resolutions are forgotten. Yet, the effort to make a change was there. A few weeks of change in the African American community would be a blessing for all people in the USA.
One suggested resolution for African Americans is to analyze their thoughts. Many African Americans never spend time understanding their own mind and thoughts. African Americans should take a few minutes every day to think about why they are thinking what they are thinking. The analysis of one’s own thoughts can be quite liberating. Many issues in a person’s life stem from the fact that they are thinking thoughts that lead to negative actions. If every African American above the age of 12 analyzed their thinking this may lead to better decisions. Better thoughts and actions will undoubtedly lead to a calmer, safer and more prosperous African American community.
Another suggested resolution for African Americans is to stop blaming white people. If you listen to the majority of African Americans talk about issues in their community they invariably talk about the system and white people. True, the US is based on white privilege. White people created the government and the laws that have impaired African American growth. Everyone knows this in 2024. African American need to take back the power they give white people over their lives. Stop saying they’re doing this to us and playing the victim. African Americans are unconsciously giving white people power over them by thinking that whites control their every action and thought. US society is unfair and racist toward African Americans. African Americans should use this knowledge to understand what they are dealing with and move on. African Americans’ don’t give people who do not have your best interests in mind the power to control your life, mind and destiny.
One valuable resolution for African Americans would be to stop spending so much time on pro sports and media- provided entertainment. Many African Americans live their lives through pro athletes and celebrities. Think how smoother many African American families would run if a portion of the time parents and children spent gawking over celebrities and pro athletes was spent talking to one another. Real conversations about how each other is doing. Conversations that lift up one other and deal with issues pertaining to their household. Which is more important to a family’s cohesiveness, arguing over who is the ‘GOAT’ in the NBA? Or, how a child is coping with the transition from one grade to the next? African Americans’ focus your time and energy on you and your loved ones. After all, your family are the people you live with, not the millionaires on TV.
Juneteenth Day is a celebration of history and culture. Juneteenth Day resolutions should become an annual tradition in the same way New Year’s resolutions have become. Progress will be made even if African Americans only stick to the resolutions for a week. Simply thinking about the need for a resolution every year would be major progress in the African American community. African Americans if you change your mind you can change your life.
Frank James IV © 2024
beingfrankwithfrank@gmail.com
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the writer and not of the Milwaukee Times Weekly Newspaper or HT Group, LLC, its staff or management. “Being Frank” is a bi-weekly column exclusive to the Milwaukee Times Weekly Newspaper.
