Candidate Tasha D. Young of Greenburgh, New York reflects and rejoices.

Candidate Tasha D. Young of Greenburgh, New York reflects and rejoices. Victory has been won today and every Juneteenth moving forward which came at a cost.

It has been a most auspicious day remembering what our ancestors bore we have marched on until this victory has been won. Our work continues as a people, this is just the beginning.

A LETTER FROM THE CANDIDATE

TASHA D. YOUNG'S PERSONAL STATEMENT ON JUNETEENTH

Today has been a momentous day. I am grateful to be able to witness, in real time, the making of June19, 1865, Juneteenth, the black American's independence day into a national holiday.

Thank you, Lord, thank you. I feel the clarion call of liberation coming from my ancestors, the enslaved. This call is innate, it is internal, it is ancient, and it is as real as today is Saturday, June 19, 2021.

As a black American, I am reminded daily of the difference between myself and other Americans. Because of the color of my skin, American history, and the present day has taught me that black persons are people who must be commodified, scapegoated, denied, and persecuted so others amongst us can be supreme simply because of their proximity to what we come to be known as "whiteness" or their skin color.

It is for this juxtaposition, this binary if you will, between two poles of whiteness and blackness that we see why it is so important to commemorate our freedom today, Juneteenth. You see, our skin is political, always has been. The mention of black lives sends some into a terrible effort to suppress even the thought that we are in need of protection because we continue to be hunted and killed as if there are no protections under the law for the black. For black people to fight, still for the right to exist safely in America is why Juneteenth is necessary.

Juneteenth is also necessary because In New York, black bodies were the first commodity on Wall Street, the first trade was human, and black, and extremely profitable. My ancestors were scared, ripped away from family, religion, language, land and everything they knew and then sold on wall street.

The first Africans arrived on New York's shores around 1626, but in America in 1619, and their stories must be told.

Our bodies are political. We would be looked over and assessed for value. Young black men sold for a certain amount, boys even more because although they couldn't work as much, you could mold their mind. Girls would work but also breed, yes the term was breed, and as such girls were raped and gave birth repeatedly. Women also, and many were old maids, grandmothers, by the age of 40 after having been used and abused.

Our bodies were exploited for financial gain, whether through our labor or our sporting ability, agility, strength, or our sexuality, it was all commodified.

Our hair is political, and would remain covered so as not to "distract", and also so as not to attract. Our families ripped apart, where even the act of marrying was an act of resistance.

Our minds, psychologically tortured for not years, not decades, but centuries, tell us that you are 3/5 human. That your pain isn't pain, your master is your God, and your God denies you liberty on earth, because of the color of your skin, but you will get your reward in heaven. The institution of chattel slavery invented the term gas lighting. Reading for the enslaved was illegal, so our ancestors learned English, and communicated in song, & 'negro sprirituals' to tell the story
of freedom.

I purposely walked you through some very sanitized depictions, and descriptions of what it means to be the descendent of enslaved Africans for me and what this day means to me.

Now for the bottom line. This weekend we celebrate, we dance, sing, and eat, but make no mistake. Juneteenth is a cultural breakthrough for American history.

What we asked for is the passing of HR 55, the Emmitt Till anti lynching act! HR 1280 the George Floyd Justice in Policing, HR 4, John Lewis voting rights act, which will restore and strengthen the voting rights act of 1965, HR 40, the Commission to study and develop Reparations proposals for African Americans, or making the 1619 project part of school curriculum, nationwide, as well as the story of the indigious people of the Americas