In case y’all forgot, Juneteenth’s official federal name is “Juneteenth National Independence Day”, not “Juneteenth Memorial Day”.

The addition of “independence” as an act of celebration is inviting commercialization in a vulgar-capitalist country like this. The marking of “Independence” is not a time for any type of Memorial Day-style reflection.

In another universe, Juneteenth’s official name would be “Juneteenth Labor Memorial Day”, rightfully marking how chattel slavery was brutal, multigenerational abuse of human labor. We would be visiting slave cemeteries. We would be treating it as a day of mourning and labor activism. Who would capitalize on a day of mourning?

But instead we got Juneteenth with the parades and the “independence”. And now some are confused and frustrated that companies and establishments would capitalize on a new holiday with a Juneteenth-branded ice cream flavor, or that companies would afford time off to *everyone* for a federal holiday.

I don’t know why we’re supposed to be upset with a corny ice cream flavor from some big, dumb, anti-union corp. I don’t know what we expected. This is a package deal for an “independence day” in the United States.