As Juneteenth becomes more commercialized, some in Charlotte see a ‘double-edged sword’
In its second year as a federal holiday, a growing number of companies in Charlotte and elsewhere are formally recognizing Juneteenth.
Some, like Wells Fargo and Truist, will give workers the day off Monday. Others, including Bank of America and LendingTree, are hosting events or buying employees’ admission to local celebrations. And some businesses, Black-owned or not, are selling T-shirts, tickets and other products to commemorate the holiday celebrating Black Americans’ freedom from slavery.
The Charlotte Observer recently spoke with Shanté Williams, chairwoman of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Black Chamber of Commerce, and Dammit Wesley, a local artist and co-founder of the annual Juneteenth event Durag Fest, about the holiday and commercialization.
Broader recognition can foster a wider celebration of Black culture and drive dollars to Black businesses, they said. But capitalizing on the holiday can also do more harm than good — especially if it funnels profits and diverts attention from the community it’s supposed to benefit.
“It’s a double-edged sword,” Wesley said. “We want people to celebrate Juneteenth. … But there’s a certain level of respect that comes along with it.”
‘Seize the narrative’
In 2018, Wesley launched Durag Fest as an alternative to more traditional Juneteenth celebrations in Charlotte. He wanted to create an event that celebrated the Black culture of his generation, with all the hip-hop music, y2K fashion and other aesthetics that entailed.
“Being Black in America is very draining,” he said. “(Durag Fest) is one of the few spaces where it’s safe for you to literally adorn yourself with all the things that you see as valuable or aesthetically pleasing to you as a Black man or woman and then face no judgment or repercussions.”
For Wesley, whose artistic work addresses themes of race and consumerism, Juneteenth serves as an opportunity to celebrate an identity he spends much of the year minimizing.
“For Black men, it’s usually safer to fly under the radar,” he said. “Juneteenth is a holiday on which I feel like I can celebrate myself and my people.”
He’s seen increased efforts to honor the holiday in 2022.
But some ways of doing so can feel tone deaf — he pointed to Walmart’s Juneteenth ice cream flavor as one example.
The company had to pull a new kind of ice cream, released this year to commemorate Juneteenth, from store shelves following social media backlash. Critics accused Walmart of using the holiday as a moneymaking vehicle.
The retailer also walked back a line of partyware, which included one heavily critiqued drink koozie that read, “It’s the freedom for me.”
Every American holiday is commercialized, Wesley said, and it was bound to happen to some degree for Juneteenth.
“Capitalism is gonna capitalize... America has a very long history of essentially taking African American ideas, dances and music and profiting off of that before the creators of it had a chance to,” he said. “The only thing we can do is hope that Black creatives manage to seize the narrative.”
To Wesley, supporting Black-owned businesses or attending festivals remain beneficial ways for non-Black Charlotteans to celebrate Juneteenth.
“One of the things that I’ve noticed is that Black people often have no problems celebrating others in their spaces. But when it comes time for others to celebrate Black people in their space, it becomes an issue,” he said.
“As long as nothing is being done in a way that patronizes those that are putting on the event, I see no issue. … This is an opportunity for you to come get comfortable,” he laughed.
‘Striving for economic freedom’
There’s no single way that the Black community celebrates or experiences the Juneteenth holiday in Charlotte, Williams said.
But in her work leading the Black Chamber of Commerce, she sees members gravitate toward a common theme: freedom.
“I think keeping that spirit alive, especially in the entrepreneurial sense, businesses really pick that up,” she said. “We think about: how do we continue to emancipate or free our communities and our businesses? How do we keep striving for economic freedom?”
She works to address that at her company, Black Pearl Global Investments.
Like Wesley, she said some businesses’ “corporate fumbles” in their attempt to acknowledge Juneteenth end up doing more harm than good.
“I think that a lot of other businesses, even though it’s a federal holiday, they don’t necessarily know how to jump in,” Williams said. So instead, they end up just “(using) the colors and slapping the name on tops of products.”
She’d like to see more companies acknowledge the holiday by building support of the Black community into their business model year round. She pointed to the post that the Black Chamber often makes reminding its followers that its members aren’t just Black in February.
“It’s this idea that ‘We’ll celebrate you during (Black History Month) or we’ll recognize Juneteenth,’ ”she said. “(But) it’s not episodic. Let’s recognize the significance and the reverence of these days or these months — But then let’s create this continuous, broader conversation of support so that it isn’t ebbs and flows.”
Williams doesn’t want to let incidents like the Walmart ice cream debacle detract from the important work of making a direct impact on Black economic freedom, she said.
“Some of this is distraction,” she said. “Some people want to sell ice cream. We have to stay focused.”
That includes making progress on equity issues like affordable housing and health care — and backing up claims of support for the Black community with the dollars that can make a difference.
“I think conversations are great and it’s wonderful to start with one,” she said of racial equity efforts in the city. “But I think we know what our problems are.”
How Charlotte’s largest companies observe Juneteenth
Many of Charlotte’s largest employers are acknowledging Juneteenth with events or a day off for workers.
The city’s banks — including Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Truist — will be closed in honor of the federal holiday.
Duke Energy and Lowe’s aren’t closing, but employees can use a paid personal holiday to take the day off if they choose, company spokespeople told the Observer.
LendingTree will also be open, but spokesperson Megan Greuling said the online lending company “fully supports any employee who wants to take the day off in observance of Juneteenth.”
Others are offering the chance to participate in local events.
Bank of America has hosted internal events for employees in the days leading up to Juneteenth, giving them a space to recognize the holiday at work.
Duke Energy’s Advocates for African Americans, an employee resource group, will take part in the Juneteenth celebration at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture in Charlotte. Lowe’s is sponsoring the Ada Jenkins Center Juneteenth Celebration in Davidson.
And LendingTree is giving employees tickets to Wesleys’ Durag Fest.
And some uptown towers will glow red, yellow, green and black to light the Charlotte skyline over the weekend.
Those are mostly the colors of the Pan African flag, which symbolizes freedom for Black Americans, though the Juneteenth flag is red, white and blue.
This story was originally published June 17, 2022 at 5:45 AM with the headline "As Juneteenth becomes more commercialized, some in Charlotte see a ‘double-edged sword’."
