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Why Juneteenth Solves Nothing

Ginnie Paris

·

August 5, 2021

On June 19th of 2021, Joe Biden established the Juneteenth as a federal holiday, celebrating the emancipation of enslaved people in this country. This has spent years being overlooked by our government and I’m glad to see it finally being recognized as a federal holiday.

However, we still have problems. On that same day, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Nestle and Cargill using child slave labor overseas. That seems kind of counterproductive, right? Boycott Nestle and their chocolate!! They are not the only corporation who profits from child slave labor in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. This Supreme Court ruling defended ALL corporations engaging in this slave economy.

There are plenty of alternatives to the companies that benefit from child slave labor.

These are the corporations which you should STAY AWAY FROM:

– Baci Perugina (Owned by Nestle)

– BarkThins (owned by Hershey)

– Cailler (owned by Nestle)

– Delicaseys Chocolates

– Galaxy (Owned by Mars – England, Northern Ireland, Scotland & Wales)

– Garden of Life (owned by Nestle)

– Garoto (owned by Nestle – Brazil)

– Haagen-Dazs (owned by Nestle)

– Hershey’s

– Lily’s (owned by Hershey)

– Nestlé

– NÓI SÍRÍUS’s chocolate (dark)

– Scharffen Berger (owned by Hershey)

– Stuffed Cakes

– Talenti Gelato

– Tony’s Chocolonely

The information in regards to which chocolate corporations to avoid comes from the Food Empowerment Project, which continues to research vegan products containing chocolate and if they source that chocolate from areas where child slave labor is lost prevalent. I highly recommend checking out this website that lists which chocolate is safe to buy.

Juneteenth is all about protecting African Americans and their freedom, but passing that as a federal holiday does not solve the preexisting issues for black people. It doesn’t solve the abuse they face by white cops. It doesn’t solve how little race is talked about in schools. It doesn’t solve voting rights for African Americans. It doesn’t solve the constant unemployment and the poverty cycle for African Americans.

Juneteenth being established as a federal holiday was done strictly to make it SEEM like the government cares about African Americans, when in reality protecting the lives of African Americans is far from their list of priorities. They closed the courts on Juneteenth, which prevents incarcerated black people from getting the hearing they are entitled to. African Americans remain in jail while white people celebrate the emancipation of slaves. They would rather pretend everything is alright than actually solve the issues plaguing black and enslaved people.

This is our America, folks.

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With immense gratitude, the Promly Team

Ginnie Paris

Ginnie Paris (she/her) is an advocate for climate change and LGBTQ+ rights. She enjoys eating the rich and writing these articles!