For the last week, I’ve struggled to wrap my head around all the debates around public symbols, flags and declarations\u00a0 and I was well prepared to express my frustration with it.<\/p>\n
I just felt like we were missing the bigger picture.<\/p>\n
Let me offer a little context: The holiday Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865<\/a> when Union troops arrived in Texas announcing more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state were free. While this historical moment was no secret, it was after the 2020 killing of George Floyd<\/a> by Minneapolis Police Department officers and the subsequent protests when the government decided to make this a federal holiday. But other than a day off, my life didn’t change because of the holiday. I wasn’t sure how this was going to reduce racism.<\/p>\n Companies issued Black Lives Matter statements and hung banners. I never did hang a banner, but I did join some committees to do the work to make things better. Real work often happens behind the scenes. But that doesn’t mean we should hide behind them.<\/p>\n