#4-010: Juneteenth, Slavery and Personal Reflections on Who Really Belongs in America

What is Juneteenth? 

Did Juneteenth end slavery?

How can you honor Juneteenth?

In the latest episode of Mother Tree Network, I offer my Juneteenth reflections on Ancestors, Foster Care, and forgiveness. 

I give you my intimate thoughts after sitting with Juneteenth in my body.

Here are three ways You Can Celebrate and Reflect on Juneteenth for people of all backgrounds:

• Acknowledge your capacity for violence and extraction. Befriend these aspects of yourself; find out what they need so they don’t have to cause harm to get your attention.
• Tap into your ancestors and ask for their message. It's an important step towards healing and understanding the significance of Juneteenth.
• We belong to each other. The illusion of not belonging comes from colonization, but we can heal by connecting to earth and all of our relations. This is not conceptual.  Go outside!

Tune in to hear more inspiring insights!

Download my free guide:

👉 How to Connect with Your Ancestors and Why You Should

Don't forget to share the Mother Tree Network podcast with your friends.

 #Juneteenth #belonging #forgiveness #ancestors #healing

TRANSCRIPT

Honoring the Message of the Ancestors

I thank the ancestors for that message. As I shared the poem aloud this morning, I began to reflect on what my benevolent and enlightened ancestors want me to know. The first message is always love. It’s the truth that I belong. There’s no way I could not belong.

Living in America as a Black person creates a painful illusion—one where belonging constantly feels questioned or conditional. Add to that my experience of growing up in foster care and the instability in my birth family, and I’ve spent over 50 years navigating deep questions about where and how I fit in.

Healing the Wound of Not Belonging

I was born in segregated Mississippi. From the very beginning, I was shaped by a culture that loves and loathes Blackness at the same time. That contradiction lives in our bodies and our relationships. It’s something many of us carry without knowing how deeply it affects our sense of worth.

While journaling, I unearthed a long-held belief in my body—that I am a “fake child.” That real children get to be loved unconditionally and still be held close. That real kids don’t have to earn love to stay safe.

The Myth of the “Fake Child”

What’s striking is that even people I know who grew up in loving homes still carry this fear of being the “fake” child. That deep insecurity isn’t personal—it’s systemic. The ancestors’ message—“Remember me. Forgive me. I forgive you.”—reminds me that we all belong to each other.

We belong to each other. We belong to our families, to our ancestors, to the Earth. And most importantly, we belong to ourselves.

Returning to Earth and Reclaiming Our Kinship

As I journaled, I also felt into a deeper belonging—to the Earth herself. I realized I am kin to the stones, the crows, the butterflies, the cardinals, and the running water. I belong just as they do. Colonization has seeded a disease that convinces us otherwise, that tells us we are separate. But that’s the illusion.

This Juneteenth, I feel called to reflect on freedom, slavery, and the possibility of forgiveness. Not just symbolically—like holidays—but with real substance: reparations, land, resources, truth-telling.

Can We Forgive the Past?

I wrote a play about Benjamin Franklin and slavery. It kept circling one question: Can we forgive slavery? Can we forgive those who enslaved and emancipated people in the same breath?

To approach that, we must see ourselves as part of a much larger history. The atrocities of empire and extraction didn’t start or end with African enslavement. We are part of a much older story—of peoples rising and falling, harming and healing. It’s in our lineages and our DNA.

A Call to Radical Compassion

In that larger context, my role is not to personally forgive history’s atrocities. My role is to hold space with compassion—to feel where the energy of empire still lives in me, and to meet it with truth and love. Not to let it control me, but to understand it.

This is not an easy path. It’s not about righteousness or superiority. It’s about staying open to the hard work of remembering and reweaving—especially when it's uncomfortable.

A Juneteenth Practice for Healing and Forgiveness

This Juneteenth, I invite you to ask your ancestors: What message do you have for me? Start with remembering. Reconnect with what’s easy and present—then expand. Your ancestors may say:

• Remember me.
  
  
• Forgive me.
  
  
• I forgive you.
  
  

Let that be your practice. Let love flow between you and your ancestors, between you and yourself, and between you and others.

Want to Deepen Your Connection?

If this resonated with you, I encourage you to download my free guide:
👉 How to Connect with Your Ancestors and Why You Should

You can also reach out to me directly to learn about our So Good! programs. Email me at [email protected], or visit dramandakemp.com.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for being whole and holy. Peace and love.