Paris Chanel

stay alive

stay safe

Drink some water

eat something

get back into the things you love

Unclench your jaw

do some self-care

Take a shower or bath

The Old West - 1 in 4 cowboys were Black in the 1800s. 

White men referred to themselves as cattlemen, whereas Black men (and Black women) solely were called cowboys, which was a derogatory word. Hence “boy” instead of “man,” and other negative things they grouped with it for the formerly enslaved in the United States.

A cattleman is a person who owns cattle while a cowboy is a person who herds and tends to the damn cattle. The epitome of a hard worker…which is why that shit was bulldozed and scooped up for their initial signature imagery in Hollywood.

Then Black Americans just vibing out, unknowingly made yet another new style of music later referred to as country music, which blended Negro spirituals, the blues and jazz paired with the banjo, and white men decided to merge the two as their own: cowboys + country music. That’s another topic.

Our cowboy/cowboy tradition is solidified in Black American culture all across the country where we exist, regardless if we’re finally heavily depicted as such in pop culture or not. That ain’t never letting up.

Juneteenth aka Freedom Day.

Juneteenth is a centuries long, Black American commemoration day for the end of American chattel slavery, particularly for the ancestors who learned of their freedom in Galveston, Texas in 1865 — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Although they're no longer in America and we're no longer culturally the same, Juneteenth is also celebrated by the Mascogos, the descendants of Seminole Indians who escaped America at the tail end of the Gullah Wars (1739-1858), in Nacimiento de Los Negros, Mexico.

Up until 1997, the American flag (sewn by Grace Wisher) was the only flag Black Americans waved during the parade and overall celebration. Since then there are only two other flags that are raised and waved: the official Juneteenth flag (made by Mr. “Boston Ben” Haith) and the Black American Heritage Flag (made by Mr. Melvin Charles & Mr. Gleason T. Jackson).

Red, white, and blue. Red, black, and gold. That's it. This is not a Pan-Africanism takeover day. Keep your colonizing ethnocide to yourself and reserve it for cleansing your shit.

Juneteenth flag

Black American Heritage Flag

Juneteenth is a Black American holiday. 

We call Juneteenth many things: Black Independence Day, Freedom Day, Emancipation Day, Jubilee Day. We celebrate and honor our ancestors. 

December 31 is recognized as Watch Night or Freedom’s Eve in Black American churches because it marks the day our enslaved ancestors were awaiting news of their freedom going into 1863. On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. But all of the ancestors wouldn’t be freed until June 19, 1865 for those in Galveston, Texas and even January 23, 1866 for those in New Jersey (the last slave state). (It’s also worth noting that our people under the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations wouldn’t be freed until April 28, 1866 and June 14, 1866 for those under the Cherokee Nation by way of the Treaties.)

Since 1866, Black Americans in Texas have been commemorating the emancipation of our people by way of reading the Emancipation Proclamation and coming together to have parades, free festivities, and later on pageants. Thereafter, it spread to select states as an annual day of commemoration of our people in our homeland. 

Here’s a short silent video filmed during the 1925 Juneteenth celebration in Beaumont, Texas:

(It’s also worth noting that the Mascogos tribe in Coahuila, Mexico celebrate Juneteenth over there as well. Quick history lesson: A total of 305,326 Africans were shipped to the US to be enslaved alongside of American Indians who were already or would become enslaved as prisoners of war, as well as those who stayed behind refusing to leave and walk the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma. In the United States, you were either enslaved under the English territories, the Dutch, the French, the Spanish, or under the Nations of what would called the Five “Civilized” Native American Tribes: Cherokee, Creek (Muscogee), Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminoles. Mascogos descend from the Seminoles who escaped slavery during the Seminole Wars, or the Gullah Wars that lasted for more than 100 years if you will, and then settled at El Nacimiento in 1852.)

We largely wave our red, white and blue flags on Juneteenth. These are the only colors that represent Juneteenth. But sometimes you may see others wave our Black American Heritage flag (red, black, and gold).

Juneteenth is a day of respect. It has nothing to do with Africa, diversity, inclusion, immigration, your Pan-African flag, your cashapps, nor your commerce businesses. It is not a day of “what about” isms. It is not a day to tap into your inner colonizer and attempt to wipe out our existence. That is ethnocide and anti-Black American. If you can’t attend a Black American (centered) event that’s filled with education on the day, our music, our food and other centered activities because it’s not centered around yours…that is a you problem. Respect our day for what and whom it stands for in our homeland. 

Juneteenth flag creator: “Boston Ben” Haith 

It was created in 1997. The red, white and blue colors represent the American flag. The five-point star represents the Lone State (Texas). The white burst around the star represents a nova, the beginning of a new star. The new beginning for Black Americans. 

Black American Heritage Flag creators: Melvin Charles & Gleason T. Jackson

It was created in 1967, our Civil Rights era. The color black represents the ethnic pride for who we are. Red represents the blood shed for freedom, equality, justice and human dignity. Gold fig wreath represents intellect, prosperity, and peace. The sword represents the strength and authority exhibited by a Black culture that made many contributions to the world in mathematics, art, medicine, and physical science, heralding the contributions that Black Americans would make in these and other fields. 

SN: While we’re talking about flags, I should note that Grace Wisher, a 13-year-old free Black girl from Baltimore helped stitched the Star Spangled flag, which would inspire the national anthem during her six years of service to Mary Pickersgill. I ain’t even gon hold you. I never looked too far into it, but she prob sewed that whole American flag her damn self. They love lying about history here until you start unearthing them old documents. 

I don’t care if you have personal disdain for the American flag and the ❤️🤍💙 colors because you don’t like the US (corporate) government and associate it with their actions, like imperialism. Please be respectful of us, Black Americans. Deliver your issues to the members of that corporate government.

Today’s US government, like in the past, is made up of people who are US citizens, but ethnically descend from other nations. No one loathes this government more than Black Americans and our ancestors in our homeland on a centuries long, debt owed, reparations waitlist, while others make economic gains in this foundation built on blood, sweat, expertise, genocide, and trauma.