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Shades of Ethnicity [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-06-22

When it comes to Black America, there’s a whole lot under the surface that most people, even Black folks do not think about. The simple explanation for this is that regardless of our differences, we are all treated the same by the rest of society. So the single fact of our melanin is what links us together. But, we are not all the same.

There are for example two definitions of Black Americans if not three. You have Black Americans descendants of enslaved Black Americans who have been on this soil since as long as the first white immigrants. You have the Black Americans who were born in the US, but are not descendants of enslaved Black Americans, they can be however descendants of enslaved Blacks from the surrounding regions, or from Black immigrants and you have newly Black Americans who are naturalized immigrants.

So, you have a whole diversity of cultures and ethnicities within Black America, the Nigerians, the Haitians, the Jamaicans, the Congolese, etc… and you have the Black Americans with their own culture. Unless one comes directly from an African country, any Black culture from a nation that has been through colonization and slavery is a hodgepodge of different African Culture often mixed in with the ethnicity of the indigenous people of that land.

It is important that we note these distinctions because our histories while having similarities, are not the same, thus our cultures are not the same. It is important to respect these differences as it is to embrace our similarities. And that brings us to Juneteenth, which is a celebration of the liberation of Black Americans of US descent and only of US descent. It is their day of liberation, for example Haiti has its own day of independence, as do Cuba and others. While other Black ethnic heritage can celebrate with them, it is not their day. It’s like trying to celebrate someone’s grandfather’s birthday in your family, it makes no sense.

Why am I bringing this up? You know me, I read things and I see discussions and I comment on them. And I saw a few discussions about who should be celebrated on Juneteenth… so my answer is Black Americans of US ancestry. It’s in my view pretty simple.

Fun fact, this puts me personally in a bizarre position as I have both Black American and Black Haitian ancestry, though I have more Haitian ancestry than American, so I tend to in those occasions where ancestry matters, stick to my Haitian heritage and keep to my lane.

#TheAmericanHaitianPoet #Woke #SocialPoetry

Paypal.me/murielvieux (to help Haitian families in crisis)

Muriel Vieux – June 22nd, 2025 – ©All rights reserved

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