Ep. 42: Juneteenth and the Importance of Rest

In this week’s episode April and Tracie reflect on Juneteenth and continue to think about how liberation from enslavement looked different for Jews and Black people. April also shares the ways in which the importance of rest from labour is an important lesson that resonated with her this Juneteenth. 

Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com

Learn more about Joyous Justice where April is the founding and fabulous (!) director, and Tracie is a senior partner.: https://joyousjustice.com/

Read more of Tracie's thoughts at her blog, bmoreincremental.com

Read more about April’s reflections on the sea never parting at Joyous Justice’s blog.

Listen to Season 2 episode 9: “The Sea Never Parted.” 

Listen to Season 2, Episode 7: “Exhaustion.” 

Read Vice’s report “Black People in the US Were Enslaved Well into the 1960s” 

Learn more about Watch Night.

See the Nap Ministry’s Juneteenth tweet about rest.

Transcript

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- [Tracie] As we reflect on Juneteenth, April shares some ways in which the importance of rest from labor is a lesson resonating with her this year.- [April] "This is Jews Talk Racial Justice" with April and Tracie.- [Tracie] A weekly show hosted by April Baskin and Tracie Guy-Decker- [April] In a complex world, change takes courage.- Whole-hearted relationships can keep us accountable. Well April by the time this episode drops last Shabbat will have been Juneteenth.- Yes it was, yes it was.- Juneteenth.- Sacred and nuanced and still in process toward freedom Juneteenth.(speaker laughing)- Yeah, and in fact, I feel like Juneteenth recognition in America in general and in the Jewish community in particular has really exploded over the past two years. I had never, I hadn't heard of Juneteenth six years ago when I was asked to help work on some marketing language for Juneteenth Atlanta, shout out to my friend, Nick, who brought me in on that project.- Hi Nick, woo!- Yeah, Juneteenth Atlanta is a really big music festival that they do every year. And so, and I hadn't heard of it before Nick brought me in to help on this. So that was like five or six years ago. And now I feel like it's, everybody is doing something for Juneteenth, which is amazing. But just in case our listeners don't know what we're talking about perhaps we should actually say what Juneteenth is. It's celebrate-- Oh it's a good idea.- It's celebrated on the 19th of June, right. 19th?- Yes every year, the 19th.- And it commemorates the day when finally enslaved peoples in, I believe Galveston, Texas is that right? Finally got the word that the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed and that they were free. So which was supposed to happen on January 1st. So it was a full six months later.(April laughing) What?- Oh, pardon me, y'all I'm just laughing the tension and frustration that the reminder of just how bad, like that's just so classic American racism,(April laughing) like can you imagine if there was something that was equivalent to that for White people? It just would never happen. But of course, with Black people, it's going to take America that long to let them know that they're free. Right? Like that is just such a profound statement, right? And as we shared in our, one of our episodes for Passover for Pesach this year, you know I love the sign as I shared there was a meme I found that was perfect when I posted about this last year and we're gonna post about it this year too. And we haven't finalized yet. So we'll by now, whatever it is, we'll be live on social media by the time folks are listening. But the meme that I found last year was free-ish(April laughing) since 1865, right? And yet it still as of 19, so, but I love it, so it said freeish, right? Like to me, it's nice to kind of come full circle back to this related theme we talked about this year over Passover, right? Where the sea didn't open up for Black people. So if there were an equivalent of Juneteenth for Jewish people in the biblical narrative, it would be the day they left, the day that the first born person like that all happened in a day and the Jews hit the road, hit the ocean, the ocean opened, they crossed. There wasn't a process in Egypt of like, I don't know, let's wait till we get to that pyramid. No, it was as is often the case with these kinds of things but not when it comes to White America loosening its grip on enslaving and torturing Black people. Like it was a slow release that in fact, as we know from some of the research that Vice did didn't even get completed until like 1965.- Right, you know, what's coming up for me-- Can we just pause though? That's huge, like that means my people were enslaved within my parents' lifetime. In chattel slavery, still.- Just 11 years before I was born.- Yeah, okay, continue. That just.- It's huge.- Yeah.- What occurs to me is that, so there's also this tradition of Watch Night, which I also became acquainted with in the past five or so years. So Watch Night is New Year's Eve and it is celebrated in some Black churches where you stay up, you stay up all night or stay up at least until midnight to taste the first taste of freedom since the Emancipation Proclamation freed the enslaved peoples as of January 1st.

So like midnight at 12: 5:56

01 on January 1st 1865, 6, they were in fact free according to the Emancipation Proclamation. And so Watch Night became this tradition to sort of have a church service and sort of stay up and like be aware and alert at that first moment, that first taste of freedom

at 12: 6:15

01 on January 1st. But what you're pointing out is that for Jews and our freedom story, there's no need for Juneteenth because we had Watch Night. I mean, like that's the sort of equivalent in those two traditions, like.- Because we had to Watch Night?- Yeah, so watch night is January 1st when freedom comes or 12/31, December 31st into January 1st when freedom comes. But then there's also needed six months later a Juneteenth when the last of the enslaved peoples finally get the word and the taste.- Yeah, June 19th.- Yeah June 19th. So a full more than six months later, six months and a couple of days.- Right, but even, and to me like there's just like an interesting just to really unpack that a little bit more before we dive into a different facet of this. of just how, which we know, but it's worth naming, how deeply institutionalized it was that it would be at such an hour, as opposed to in the biblical story where the Pharaoh was like, okay, it's over, right? Whereas as opposed, it was such a systemic, bureaucratic, deeply ingrained part of our process that like taxes, like what, anything else you can think of it was at like a contract.- It was on human time. It wasn't on God or nature's time.- Or spiritual or right exactly, yeah. So but ultimately on a certain level it still ended up being on White oppression's time. White supremacy's timetable. And so, you know, I've been thinking a lot about a few things in the lead up to Juneteenth this year. I saw a tweet this morning that the Nap Ministry posted that I retweeted and gave me permission to say what I wanted to say about this, what I've been wanting to say but was struggling to find the words. And they said, quote, "all Black people," It reminds of these... there's also ties like we're referencing a couple different past episodes here and not in a way that you have to listen to those episodes although if you want to, they're great. But I'm also reminded right now of the major somatic, embodied response I had all throughout the recording, the extended recording of our episode about exhaustion. Anyway, so it says, quote. so the Nap Ministry in this quote says, quote"all Black people need to be doing for Juneteenth is holding space for each other and resting, leisure and food need to be the vibes." Right? And Tracie, as you know, and I still find it intriguing, I'm dealing with some health challenges right now and I think a lot of them are tied to exhaustion and my body not getting the attention that I need to give it and getting enough rest. And paradoxically I'm finding that in some ways, some of these health challenges are a blessing in disguise because thanks to capitalism and White supremacy culture which are profoundly intertwined, at least in the United States, but also abroad too in various, if not most contexts, it's my health and some struggles I'm currently navigating that seems to be the only thing that keeps, that helps folks and honestly myself, honor some of my fundamental needs. And that seems very timely and important to raise on Juneteenth as I think many people just in general in our overworked society, and it's something that has particular manifestations for women of color that are more significant and also more significant ramifications for transgender and non-binary folks of color and men of color too. But I'm just gonna speak about my lived experience and how I've seen that has been shared deeply by fellow Black women, as well as also quite profoundly by Latina and Latinx and Asian heritage women as well and obviously Native women of which that's also part of my heritage. So I include that too. It gets expressed in a lot, in a range of ways today. For me, I personally experience it more subtly but I think it's a bit more explicit. And for some reason, the demands for my time overlap with my passion and sincere drive and work ethic in a way that some of this flies below the radar but there's a way in which White folks still, even a number of wonderful, progressive White folks, just implicitly, it's not even conscious at times expect unpaid work, expect work that is above and beyond what's an acceptable or a normative standard or healthy standard for work from me as a woman of color and for many other women of color I know. And you know, too for me, in the context of our work together, Tracie, with Joyous Justice I've just been thinking a lot these past few weeks. I'm so proud of what we've created together with our colleagues at Joyous Justice Tracie and where we're heading, friends, we have lots of exciting stuff to share in the coming weeks and months. And I'm very excited about that, but even now, like I was just basically, it's just that having grown up within capitalism, especially as a person of color, the, I have very high expectations for my work output. And my body recently has set limits that are pretty understandable.(April laughing) And I've been doing my own work in response to my body giving needs, right? And I'm grateful that I've reached a certain level of success where part of my struggle is balancing and needing to set boundaries around work that I love, right? But I needed to have a friend and colleague recently say to me, I mean it was annoying, can't remember if I've shared this on the podcast yet I don't think I have, it was so annoying to me that it was revelatory and so I didn't act, I didn't say that oh yeah,'cause like, darn it, that shouldn't be that big of a but I was talking to Joanna Ware but Director of the Jewish Liberation Fund with whom I work. And I was saying to her, you know, like I'm working so much and I've just come to realize that even if everything I do is a labor of love, I still need to have boundaries. And Jo said to me, (April laughing) and I was like, I wish that weren't as revelatory as it is. And she said, "you know labor is still in that phrase, labor of love. It's still work."(speakers laughing) And I was like, in my head, I was like, oh yeah but I was like, darn it! And so there's a way in which, I don't know, Still disentangling this, you know and I'm proud of the atypical outcomes I've gotten. And part of this to me also just feel seasonal and sort of milestone-esque that I'm leading and running a startup. And fortunately my body is starting to let me know like, okay this is enough of at this level of work. Unfortunately we're at a developmental stage where I can downshift a bit and just get clear and more focused around what we're doing and not keeping all the plates spinning all the time. But part of that, I come by very honestly as a number of folks have heard and some of you who are listening will know this well but I was raised by my parents as an interracial couple to be twice as good, that in order to get to even, or in order to have a chance at succeeding, or in order to have a chance of being smart I need to work twice as hard. And I really took that to heart, to the point that I've often worked two jobs throughout my life. That Joyous Justice is not entirely, but largely was initially self-funded. So I was both working another job and working on this thing and taking my money from the other job and funneling it into this, which is sad to me that there is not more support out there. And also I'm simultaneously incredibly proud of my belief in the beauty of my dreams and being clear that this is worth my own investment and that I am no longer waiting for validation that is way past due to be honest. And yeah, so as you can see I'm really working through this. I think last thing that I'll say is that it's just that for me, Juneteenth is coming at a time this year when I'm thinking a lot, when I'm feeling the effects of working really hard for a very, very long time. And the cognitive dissonance I have is that I'm deeply committed to self-care and I regularly engage and set up my life in ways that nourish me. And yet still right now my body is letting me know that it's time to reevaluate and tweak again and figure out, what my needs are now at this point in my life. What insights or thoughts do you have Tracie?- Well, I just wanna wish you a refuah shelemah complete recovery for you and for everyone who's struggling under the same burdens that you are or similar burdens.- Or worse, you know?(indistinct)- It's not just about that. I am doggedly passionate about justice, and so I'm going to push it to the line and I don't wanna push it over the line, but I'm going to in healthy ways give this work all that I possibly can because I viscerally know from tragedies my own immediate family is experienced let alone everything we've seen in the world, that people's lives are at stake, but so is mine ultimately. I need to pause a little bit and make more time to rest and care for myself so that I have that, I love it, I know I've said it before, I love that metaphor that Iyanla Vanzant gave is nourish yourself to the point of overflow, you know to the point that you're fully filled up and then the overflow is for everyone else. And without realizing it I've started to dip into my reserves. And so I need to get the equilibrium back. And it feels like it's something I owe to my ancestors that I owe to my people today, my peoples and my ancestors to not only help more of my people, but also to be living a life of health and balance that they didn't get to live. And that even elders in my lifetime still don't live but we are reaching a point where for a number of us it is possible and so it's important to me to weave that into the process now, so that I am giving from a whole and holy place of wellness and demonstrating for others that with time and healing and support from external communal and relational sources it's possible for them too. It might mean just the arduous process over time of saying hard nos, of believing there are resources or opportunities out there that don't require them to leech their resources, their own resources dry in order to contribute and reaching for relationships professionally, personally, movement-wise that care for each of us as the whole sacred beings. Every one of us is as we often say in some of our core Joyous Justice materials, right? Like doing justice work should never be at the expense of our wellbeing. That is a false choice and capitalism and racism and patriarchy set us up to repeat it. But the more we can contradict that and honor our ongoing effort to become increasingly free, the more we can start to notice that it truly is a false choice and we can make a different one and choose our wellness and collective liberation at the same time and move forward together.- May it comes soon and in our time.- Ken y'hi Ratzon. Inshallah. Thanks for tuning in. Our show's theme music was composed by Elliot Hammer. You can find this track and other beats on Instagram @ElliotHammer. If this episode resonated with you, please share it and subscribe. To join the conversation, visit jewstalkracialjustice.com where you can send us a question or suggestion, access our show notes and learn more about our team. Take care until next time and stay humble and keep going.