Quote:
Originally Posted by coffeebean
Never heard of Juneteenth until this latest uprising of BLM.
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This is not surprising. I learned a couple of years ago that it's a really -bad- racist thing to touch a black man's face, if you're a white person and the black man didn't give you permission in advance. I had no idea at all, and I had to apologize for the insult. I was happy to see my co-worker return from the army. Hugs = okay. Handshakes = fine and dandy. Reaching to cup a hand on the man's cheek as an expression of affection = taboo.** (edit: by cup a hand on the man's cheek" I mean in the same way you'd do it with your grandson when he comes to visit. "Oh look at you, Junior, you've grown into such a handsome young man!" That kind of thing.)
I did know about Juneteenth, since New Haven has socially progressive renaissance periods every dozen years or so, so these types of festivals are publicized as events in the newspaper. But there are lots of things that I don't know about, or know but don't understand, or know and understand but cannot experience for myself. I embrace the differences, since that's really all I -can- do.