Juneteenth Was Denied to Them—So They Built Their Own: Freed Slaves Raised $1,000 to Reclaim Joy

Credit Instagram: thehumanityarchive#juneteenth2025

shared on x via: @DetroitBabalawo

✨ Affirmations: Reclaiming Joy Against the Odds ✨

1. My joy is a rebellion. I choose it anyway.
   Even when sorrow surrounds me, I am allowed to smile, to sing, to feel warmth in my bones.

2. Joy is not something I wait for. I reclaim it now, in the small moments, the quiet ones.

3. My joy is not naïve—it is informed, courageous, and hard-won.

4. I come from people who found reasons to laugh in the darkest hours. That spirit lives in me.

5. I refuse to let pain be the only language I speak. I also speak celebration, silliness, beauty, and hope.

6. Joy is not a betrayal of my past—it is a promise to my future.

7. Even when the world did not protect me, I learned how to protect joy. That is power.

8. My joy doesn’t need permission. It rises, unapologetically.

9. There is sacredness in my laughter. Each smile is an ancestor’s dream come true.

10. I am allowed to be more than my pain. I am allowed to dance, rest, and feel alive.