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By making Juneteenth a legal holiday, President Biden deemed it an example of the US coming to terms with "the mistakes we made." However, instead of commemorating Juneteenth, this year corporate America commercialized “Freedom Day."
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00In 2020, the world watched the high-profile police killings of black men, including the
00:05gruesome murder of George Floyd. This forced people to confront the long, violent history
00:09of racism in America. The national reckoning over race helped set the stage for Juneteenth
00:14to become the first new federal holiday since 1983. By making Juneteenth the legal holiday,
00:19President Biden deemed it an example of the U.S. coming to terms with the mistakes we made.
00:24However, instead of commemorating Juneteenth, this year, Corporate America commercialized
00:29Freedom Day by selling products and pandering to the black community.
00:37Hi, everyone. My name is Brooklyn White. I am Essence's Gen Z editor, and today we are having
00:43a roundtable on the commodification of Juneteenth, so I'm going to let the lovely panelists introduce
00:48themselves. My name is Oakley Jones. I am Victoria Umaroki, Senior Lifestyle Editor for Essence.
00:53My name is Grace White. I'm the Copy Chief.
00:57It's so nice to be speaking with you all the day. So let's just dive into it. Last year,
01:01Juneteenth became a federal holiday, and what was your initial reaction to that? Grace, I'll
01:06start with you.
01:09My reaction was basically what took them so long, but also did we really need that?
01:18Victoria, what about you?
01:22I was content. Yeah, I mean, I grew up in the Midwest, and now I live here in New York,
01:30and it's just kind of like, I know people who celebrate Juneteenth, but me, myself, it
01:35wasn't something that I was super passionate about or anything that I really necessarily
01:41commemorated, but I knew the work that people had been doing to get it made into a federal
01:46holiday, and so I was happy for them. And I was happy to just see that a holiday that was
01:54centered around blackness and the black experience was getting its just dues. And I know not everybody
02:00gets the day off, but for those of us who did, you know, I just thought it was just a
02:06nice, it was just a nice change. Like, look at this black, blackity black holiday. I was,
02:10I was content. Yeah, I was, I was pleased. Yeah.
02:13I was a bit indifferent because I think it was good that we are observing it as a holiday
02:19now, but, you know, I hope things will change too. Like, it's a step in the correct direction,
02:24but I think it's the, the future will tell the impact of the holiday. And then, um, does
02:31anyone here celebrate Juneteenth? Well, not officially, officially, because it's been on
02:37all my radar, mostly because my sister was an educator. And so in New York City schools,
02:45you know, a lot of the, um, cultural activities are stressed. So it was part of, you know, she had
02:57all the information and all the, you know, why don't we try this kind of food? Why don't we try
03:03that? It, it, it always centered around food. Basically as a Caribbean born person, everything
03:09revolves around food, um, generally for most things, but for the cultural aspect of it, you
03:17know, um, we ha I had some ideas and some information, more information than I think, you know, the man
03:26on the street who didn't even know what it was about and why it would be something that we should
03:32embrace and think about and ponder. Next, I'm going to dive into a very controversial topic.
03:39Which was Walmart's Juneteenth ice cream that Twitter ripped apart. Um, so can you talk about
03:45why the moment was so tense and I guess pinpoint the exact misstep on Walmart's part of Victoria?
03:52I'll start with you. Um, yeah. So people, as far as I know from digging into Twitter, uh, people,
04:00uh, someone took a picture of the ice cream that Walmart decided to have their good value brand
04:07made in commemoration of Juneteenth, which was like a red velvet, um, type of cheesecake flavored
04:13ice cream. And on the front of it, there were like fists, it's like we're, we're celebrating. And then
04:19there's like a power fists happening and they have like the colorful bangles on there. It's like Pan
04:24African flag colors, a little bit of Ethiopia, you know, colors happening a little bit all over the
04:30place. And the whole ice cream said something to the effect of like help us celebrate or honor,
04:35you know, lag strength, something to that effect. And so people, when they caught wind of the ice
04:42cream, they, as you said, they tore it apart because they just felt like, I guess that it was
04:50simple, very much simplifying something very serious and just trying to make money off of the
04:57holiday by being like, okay, Juneteenth ice cream. Like, let's make all these things. We know black
05:01people eat. We know they love red velvet cake. Oh, you know, they love all of these things. So, um,
05:07yeah, let's try to see if we can, you know, market something towards them. And I think that's what
05:14created the rage. So I think just the commercialization of Juneteenth, um, I'm actually
05:22like, are you informing people? Are you just trying to make money off of the holiday? You know,
05:26are you trying to, you know, let people know what it is, you know, what it came from, what it's about,
05:31what it means. Um, and I just think that they were just trying to make money off it too. And it
05:37kind of made me think about the, uh, the watermelon salad, uh, a situation too in Indianapolis. Um,
05:43it's kind of like a larger issue. I feel that, uh, they need to have people of color in these
05:49ballrooms and these companies and everything to, you know, let them know that these products might be
05:54tone deaf too. So I think that's what's the misstep. We're in a free market capitalistic society,
06:00and they're going to always try to capitalize on anything on every holiday. Um, right now,
06:08you know, as, as soon as they were done with, um, I think right now, all in the 4th of July stuff is
06:16out. And as soon as that goes down, it will be Halloween stuff. And, you know, and as soon as
06:21Halloween, then it's that, you know, they're always going to try to capitalize on something.
06:26Um, but the ice cream sparked the outrage, but they had a whole bunch of other Juneteenth merchandise
06:34too. So I was a little confused. Okay. So you're mad at the ice cream, but you're not mad at the rest
06:40of the stuff. So that was my take on it too. I feel like the, the protests that took place primarily
06:47during the summer of 2020, um, really gave rise to corporations and brands feeling like they had
06:53to acknowledge Juneteenth. Um, but I don't personally feel like that was prevalent beforehand.
06:58So why, why were those protests just kind of the watershed moment that brands felt like they needed
07:02to speak up about a holiday? Victoria, what are your thoughts? Um, I think they,
07:10I think there was just a lot of interest because they, I think in some people's mind,
07:14they felt like if we commemorate and mark this occasion, if we give attention to it,
07:20it's our own way of showing that we are standing in solidarity and then we're not a part of the
07:25problem. Um, we're, we're acknowledging that this is a holiday where celebration is important to you
07:30guys. So yeah, let's make a few plates and a few shirts and some ice cream and like, just, you know,
07:36be a part of that. And then, you know, people jumped in and said, you know, it's obviously much deeper
07:41than that. And, you know, that's the struggle of, you know, as Grace said, capitalism. I mean,
07:47a lot of businesses, they just come from a place of, they look at blackness in a stereotypical lens
07:54as opposed to really trying to learn and educate themselves. And so I think, like you said, 2020 was
08:00just such a watershed moment of so much tragedy in general happening with COVID. And of course, with
08:06the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and everything that people just feel like, yeah,
08:12you know, even Joe Biden coming into office the next year, it's like, yes, we need to make,
08:16we should have done this, make it a federal holiday. Everything was just kind of like,
08:20what is the best and quickest and easiest thing that we can quickly do to show that we stand with
08:25black people a year later, or that we stand with them now after everything they've experienced and
08:31watched. So I think that's why they hopped on it. But what do you think?
08:34Um, I think that it, it's a nice gesture, but it's just that a gesture. It doesn't really
08:44facilitate any change. And also it's a Texas specific holiday. And I feel like that's been
08:50lost on a lot of people because education around it isn't pushed as heavily as the fact that it is now
08:57a holiday. Um, and so I just feel like it's, it's kind of becoming glossed over and just a day of
09:04blackness, obviously from a white perspective, just the day of blackness versus being, um,
09:08a commemoration of the Indian flavor in Texas. Before I toss it off to Oakland, I also wanted to
09:14say it sometimes it just feels like brands don't know what to do. Um, whether it's, you know,
09:20before it was a holiday and afterwards, it's just like, okay, we have to say something like we can't,
09:24we can't be silent or like, you know, we have to make a slide post to acknowledge that
09:27we at least know what's going on. Um, and it, it always just kind of feels a little like,
09:33do you know, do you know why you're doing this? Like, what is, what is your motivation here?
09:37But hopefully I'll let you, um, share your answer. So again, with a lot of parts of this particular
09:42question, I kind of go to social media. Um, I think that, you know, going back to George Floyd,
09:49a lot of times, like even with the Vietnam war, like things didn't change with Vietnam until people
09:54started seeing photos and pictures of the things that were going on. I think that with social media
09:58and camera phones and everything, um, us seeing and, you know, other demographics seeing what's going
10:05on with our people, it, it, uh, was the, the straw that broke the camel's back, like my grandmother,
10:09um, would say, uh, but in kind of what Grace said as well, so I think that, um,
10:17sometimes it may be, uh, people trying to appease and then going back to social media,
10:22a lot of companies get backlash. Like, are you going to say something? Are you going to do this?
10:26So it's kind of a knee jerk reaction and they don't really have any meaning behind why they're trying to,
10:31you know, put out these products or put out these statements. They're just doing it, you know,
10:34to appease the public. Yeah. And then Okla, have you seen such corporate interest as we've seen
10:41in the past two years in Juneteenth specifically? Like, does this feel fresh?
10:46So I remember growing up, um, I would see like, you know, shirts and things of that nature,
10:51but when you start going to ice cream and salads and different foods and certain days and all that
10:56stuff, all that's, that's new. And I think again, that's companies and brands trying to capitalize off of
11:03the holiday. And I'm good with it. If you're informing, if you're acknowledging, if you're
11:09trying to understand what the holiday and what Juneteenth is about, but if you're just trying
11:13to make a dollar, then that's when I disagree with you. I also want to acknowledge the fact that not
11:17everyone was upset about Walmart's ice cream or just the commodification of Juneteenth in general.
11:23So I wanted to kind of open the floor to anyone who had seen any of that, or, you know, maybe someone who
11:28wasn't offended, um, and just kind of let you expand on it a little bit. So feel free to hop in and share your thoughts.
11:38I was one of those people who was not particularly offended. Um, I, I had an interview with Britt Hawthorne.
11:44She's the author of the book, uh, Raising Anti-Racist Children. She obviously does a lot of anti-racism work.
11:50And I, you know, with everything with racism being so overt now in the post, or maybe, I don't know
11:56when, what was happening with Trump, but in the Trump era, I asked her like, how do you stay encouraged?
12:01Um, and she was just saying, well, I mean, I don't get caught in the weeds. I don't get, I know what
12:07racism is. I know who it affects. I know what the work that needs to be done. And I think sometimes we
12:11get caught in the weeds, um, or tripped up by things that are, that we make into grievances
12:19that aren't really. Like, so for me, I didn't expect, you know, Walmart to come out like power
12:25to the people and super educated about Juneteenth. The best way to have probably commemorated and
12:30marked it as a, as a business would maybe have gone the route of like working with black creatives
12:37and having them sell their products in the store and things that mark Juneteenth in that way,
12:41that really goes back and supports the community. Um, but I like Grace has said, I'm not surprised by
12:49folks trying to commodify a holiday. That's the only thing they know how to do. I mean,
12:54we don't all get enraged about Thanksgiving, but we know the reality of what is really behind that
12:58holiday as well. So I just think, again, it just goes back to, if this is really important, you have
13:04to educate yourself and try to educate other people, especially if you have a platform. Um,
13:09to me, it just wasn't something that I was like, Oh, no, you know, so that's why when I wrote my piece
13:14and I was like, how bad of an idea was it? I mean, it wasn't the best idea, but you know, we just can't
13:18get caught in the weeds when we can educate ourselves and we can help our community. And I mean, in reality,
13:25what happened, maybe two days later, didn't then the shooting in Texas occur. It's like, so we went from
13:30talking about ice cream to talking about the reality of like gun control and so many big and
13:35huge issues happening. Um, that not to say that this wasn't a big deal, but I'm like ice cream.
13:43What was the thing for me? Why the ice cream? There's a whole lot of other products
13:48that you could have been, but the ice cream was, that was the straw that broke the camera's back.
13:53Yeah. That was, that was my reaction. The watermelon salad was a little tacky.
13:57But I'm like, the ice cream, let's get the ice cream. They hurt nobody.
14:02What about you, Oakland? Is there anything you'd like to add?
14:05Um, kind of the, uh, it was a mixed bag for me. Like I knew people that were outraged about it. I
14:11knew people in the, you know, in the vein of what Victoria said about, um,
14:15there are more important things to care about. And then I knew people that didn't care about it,
14:19but that's because they were apathetic. You know, they didn't really care either way, you know?
14:23Um, so again, uh, I just think that these, these products are these, um, that are being put out,
14:32you know, if you're doing it for a good cause, like if you, I think a lot of people would have
14:36been more okay with it too. Like for example, if they would have donated all the money made from
14:40ice cream to some type of black charity or some, you know, some worthy cause, I think it would have
14:44been received better, you know, but just don't put it out in, in shelves and get money from it,
14:50line your pockets. And then, you know, that's where the disrespect came in.
14:54And then my last question is what are some of the pros and cons of brands having this awareness
14:58around Juneteenth? Um, overall, I'll let you, I'll let you kick it off.
15:03So I think, um, it's real simple for me. I think it's a pro that it opens eyes, um,
15:09because it kind of draws attention to it, but it's up to the people or the, you know, the, to,
15:14to want to see what it's really about, you know, but I think it opens the door for conversation.
15:20And, um, you know, it's good to have the conversation and start it up that way. But,
15:23uh, in terms of the cons too, it's, it's never good to, uh, do anything for money.
15:32Um, even though a lot of companies are going to do that because that's their bottom line. But,
15:36um, if you're going to commemorate this holiday, I just don't want it to become
15:41a big celebration and not a day of observance.
15:44I agree with Oakland in the sense that awareness is always a positive thing. Um,
15:49and I think we also just have to be cognizant of the fact that it's been,
15:52we've had one federal Juneteenth holiday, like just one. So there are going to be some hiccups
15:59on the road to getting it better and right, I'm assuming. Um, and so they made this mistake this
16:05year. Maybe they'll learn. And like I said, start, uh, integrating the work of other, you know,
16:10black creatives and their products and products they already sell that are made by black folk in
16:14their store, maybe pushing those forward in a different way. Um, so the pro of it is like,
16:20you know, without people knowing about it, we can't have more conversations about the reality
16:24of slavery. And a lot of folk don't want to have it. And I mean, it's just ridiculous that it took
16:29years for people to be able to know that it was kept from them, that they were free already. And I
16:35think those are things that we really have to put on blast, like the foolishness of what this
16:41country is capable of and our history, which a lot of people don't like to face. Um, but the cons,
16:47yeah, I mean, you're going to get some of these ignorant products. You're going to get, um, things
16:52that are just not well thought through. And I mean, at the end of the day, again, that is holidays now.
16:59I mean, I celebrate resurrection Sunday, but people like to look at it as, as Easter eggs and,
17:05you know, you know, the Easter bunny. So again, whatever something means to you, I hope it'll mean
17:11more to everybody, uh, sooner or later, and maybe we'll all be more serious about how we actually
17:16mark the occasion. And like, yeah, instead of just taking the day off and running errands or something,
17:21I, I sat with my kid or we went to the museum and we did these things that really educated us and,
17:26um, and that were important. So, um, the cons of it is just like, you're going to see the mistakes,
17:32but the pros of it is like, it's good for people to wake up and be made knowledgeable about the fact
17:38that this happened here, not too long ago. And you know, what you don't know can cause you to go
17:44backwards. And I ain't, you know, I ain't going backwards. Thanks everybody at home for tuning in
17:51to our round table on the commodification of Juneteenth. I would love to hear your thoughts
17:56on Walmart's ice cream and just brands response to the holiday in general.
18:01So stand off in the comments and we'd love to hear from you. Bye.
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