I have mixed emotions today, as represented by two of my heroes: Marianne Williamson and Cory Booker.

I first read Marianne’s comments on Juneteenth from her daily newsletter TRANSFORM with Marianne Williamson. Marianne encourages us to open our hearts to experience the horror and pain of the truth of our country’s history of enslaving Black people. She believes (and I agree) that only by acknowledging and grieving the mistakes of our past can we find forgiveness and compassion and the ability to move beyond them.

Cory Booker, a man of African American descent who is a Democratic Senator from New Jersey, urges us to “Share the Joy.” Cory is one of the most ardent advocates for changing our policies that discriminate against people of color, such as the difference between the punishment for people found with crack (predominantly used by Black and Brown people) versus cocaine (primarily used by White people). But today, Cory declares “(N)o one is going to steal my joy.” He is focused on how far we have come, including the fact that we now have our first African American female Supreme Court Justice. So he is all about the celebration of our growth and improvement.

I am experiencing both of those…which makes it a particularly powerful holiday for me. It takes courage to really experience the terrible things our ancestors did and to acknowledge how that is still playing out today. But it also inspires hope to see that we did stop our worst behaviors, and even if we haven’t reached our best, we are doing WAY better than our country did years ago.

Therefore, I am feeling both those emotions today.

As is usual for me, other than my emotional processing, I will celebrate today through food. Our menu tonight will include a recipe attributed to an 18th century enslaved African American chef of Thomas Jefferson, who may not have been the first, but was the source of the earliest record of a recipe for a beloved American dish–Macaroni and Cheese ( https://www.monticello.org/research-education/blog/a-monticello-food-pairing/). And it will end with a contemporary African American female’s dessert recipe for my first-of-the-year Farmers Market peaches (https://thesoulfoodpot.com/black-folks-southern-peach-cobbler-recipe/). Since Juneteenth’s colors are red, green, and black, I’ll finish off the meal with Farmers Market tomatoes and greens and, I don’t know…maybe some chocolate chips with the peach cobbler to represent black? Or maybe using recipes from Black cooks is enough.

But what I think is most important is that we all acknowledge this holiday. It is not a “Black” people’s holiday; it is an American holiday. It is just as my beloved musical Hamilton made the point that the founding of our nation was not just “White” people’s history; it is the history of all Americans, regardless of ethnicity or cultural heritage.

Freedom is always something to be celebrated, regardless of your race, culture, gender identity, age, length of time in this country, religion, or political affiliation.

PS–I forgot to mention that this is a Meatless Monday Post! It’s an all-vegetarian meal. While I understand that particularly around holidays, it’s hard to change traditions around meat-based meals. However, I am increasingly trying to develop new traditions around plant-based meals, which are generally better for our health and are certainly better for the health of our planet. Just something to think about…