“Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.”

Whoa, have I learned a lot in the last two months and have so much left to learn about black history and the resultant systems in place that place black lives at a structural and deadly disadvantage.

Antiracism is a continuous journey to keep learning and acting; writing how I, a white female, feel is NOT the objective here. This cannot be a journey of self improvement, it is not about me or any white reader consuming this blog post. The objectives are to:

productively contribute to policy change,

amplify the work/studies/activism of black individuals who have dedicated their life’s work to this matter,

engage in those hard, awkward, frustrating as hell conversations with your racist family members, coworkers, acquaintances,

amplify the voices of black individuals who are overlooked in historically white, privileged realms such as outdoor recreation,

recognize how I/you/we fit into the perpetuation of these corrupt systems,

and, ultimately,

FIGHT FOR EQUALITY.

As June winds down, I am reading a lot about momentum slowing which cannot happen. There is no shortage of great information out there; I want to give a list of some of the information I digested + discovered that I found helpful to really begin my anti-racism journey. I broke them down by category and provided links when applicable.

Please share what you have found + learned as well!