Maya Angelou | Nine Cent Girl

Juneteenth may mark the end of slavery in the United States but must begin with acknowledgement for that bloody time in our history. This Federal holiday asks us to envision new horizons with opportunities for more than hope. Let us note how substantial change comes about, with people making their voices heard loud and clear, through peaceful protests and intentional voting. Looking backwards or forward, regardless, Juneteenth is provocative for it demands that we speak truth and face fact. We are a nation of mostly immigrants, some “Bought, sold, stolen, arriving on a nightmare” but at this moment we are all “Praying for a dream” “on the pulse of this new day” (Angelou).

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One by one the lamps were all extinguished, except that Mr. Carmichael, who liked to lie awake a little reading Virgil, kept his candle burning rather longer than the rest… [Mr. Carmichael brought out a volume of poems that spring, which had an unexpected success. The war, people said, had revived their interest in poetry] (Woolf, To the Lighthouse). Much like the characters in Woolf’s novel, we too, only yesterday, took a step away from our four year war against lies and misinformation, against bigotry and racism, against incivility and immorality, seeking solace from an elder statesman and a young poet, and on a historic Inauguration day, we got more than we could have hoped for in the wisdom of President Biden and the spoken poetry of Amanda Gorman. Unity. Light. A reminder of our America.

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