Shownotes
What is freedom, How do we celebrate it, and Who Owns Juneteenth?
In 2021, President Joe Biden signed a bill passed by Congress to set aside Juneteenth as a federal holiday. While the Black community has celebrated this day for decades, America is being introduced to this holiday for the first time and its getting mixed reactions.
Some ignore it, some don't quite understand it, and others want to own a piece of it. In today's episode, Chris Ward Jr joins the show to share how we can leverage content and storytelling to ensure that Juneteenth continues to be owned by the Black community.
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You cannot believe what they did here. They served us Kool-Aid.
Speaker:I tried to call it something else. They served us cool. I guess. Yo, stop playing. She said,
Speaker:no, for real. Happy Juneteenth and serve everybody cool. Our story is not pain. Our story is not
Speaker:struggle. Our story is new growth. This is Boss Logs. Join us as we speak to black leaders
Speaker:from around the world to understand the range of blackness and hear their stories of new
Speaker:growth. Welcome to the show. Walter, where are you? You need to call me back. There are things
Speaker:to discuss. What is freedom? How do we celebrate it? And who owns Juneteenth? Juneteenth was
Speaker:made a federal holiday in 2021 and that's honestly a win. But there's room for growth. Because
Speaker:now that it's a national holiday, that opens up a window for opportunity for commercialization
Speaker:to happen. And those with resources... are not hesitating. I mean just look at Walmart who
Speaker:dropped the Juneteenth ice cream flavor under the Great Value brand. And yeah, disrespectful
Speaker:but what really worried me was learning that they filed a trademark to own the symbol for
Speaker:Juneteenth. This holiday has become the latest part of our culture that's up for exploitation
Speaker:and we have to dig in now before we wake up and this holiday is no longer ours. I was sharing
Speaker:my thoughts on Juneteenth being in the brand awareness stage with Chris Ward Jr. And he
Speaker:actually has a theory on how we can use storytelling and content to move past this phase and ensure
Speaker:that Juneteenth is actually owned by the black community. It caught me off guard, but he actually
Speaker:made a lot of good points. Here's what he had to say. 2021 summer president Biden is like,
Speaker:yeah, we're making this a thing. It's been adopted everywhere. Everyone recognizes it, but you
Speaker:know, what's interesting about it is that it's not like all the way there yet. Like it's like
Speaker:a kind of federal holiday, like to the 4th of July holiday. Uh, government employees, they
Speaker:get paid time off. Everyone gets a day off. Juneteenth it's new. Some companies are forgetting.
Speaker:It's a thing. In fact, uh, well, I won't mention that, but I've heard stories about some people
Speaker:showing up to work. and other people not thinking like, oh, I thought we had the day off. Now
Speaker:everyone's confused. Like, this is for real. I heard this story. So I'm taking off today.
Speaker:Yeah, for real, for real. A lot of black people just taking PTO, just submitting the PTO on
Speaker:that day. But what I thought was interesting as I was looking into why it's not yet a day
Speaker:where everyone gets a day off. I started to learn more about government employees and federal
Speaker:holidays. And I learned that there's actual funding set up to pay for the pay time off
Speaker:for government employees. Like for me, like working in a private company. So it's like,
Speaker:Oh, yeah, you know, just get paid anyways, doesn't seem like a big deal. But for governments,
Speaker:there's actual specific budgets for this. And it comes from taxpayer dollars. But there are
Speaker:some states like it's a federal holiday across the nation, but at a local level, each state,
Speaker:each city gets to determine how they treat certain holidays. So like, there's a few states where
Speaker:senators are like, yeah, we're not making this a thing yet. And matter of fact, Senator Joey
Speaker:Hensley, literally said that when the bill came up for discussion during a February committee
Speaker:hearing, he said that he felt like we're putting the cart before the horse to make a holiday
Speaker:people don't know about. Like he literally Ask people it's like, oh, do you know anything
Speaker:about this? And a lot of people said no, I mean who he's asking I don't know but just the fact
Speaker:that he's like, uh, not that many people know about it Let's not do this. He said we need
Speaker:to educate people first and then make a holiday if we need to I want to stop there. What are
Speaker:your thoughts on all this?
Speaker:I'm just going to shrug my shoulders. Like there are topics we've been talking about for 20,
Speaker:30 years. And education is always the first detail that people run to. Oh, we need more
Speaker:education. We need more education. And so sometimes that becomes an excuse not to put action towards
Speaker:something that can change and shift and become organic. We're talking about a holiday. Imagine
Speaker:if. We just talked about the 4th of July. Imagine if the military and the founding fathers say,
Speaker:hey, we need to learn more about our approach on Independence Day before we can make it a
Speaker:federal holiday. That will never happen. It's like, that will never happen because there's
Speaker:a message behind each holiday, right? Because you are educated the more you interact with
Speaker:a certain experience, right? We pass down stories and those stories are passed down to kids and
Speaker:other kids and other kids in other neighborhoods. And we are educated through the stories that
Speaker:we hear. And that's just an interesting, very interesting way to say I don't want to make
Speaker:this an holiday. Right? We need more education. Come on, bro. Yeah. Don't be that guy. It's
Speaker:funny, as you're speaking, I was reminded about when I was a kid, you know, when it came time
Speaker:for birthday parties, it's like, I didn't care whose party it was. Like, if I don't like you,
Speaker:hey, you got cake, you got games. All right, I'll be there. I'll be there. I didn't need
Speaker:to, you know, get educated on this person and learn their history. I was like, oh, celebration.
Speaker:Let's do it. Let's do it. Damn, that's how you learn. How do you think I learned how to bachata?
Speaker:Right. You go to somebody that never been to a party there before. the music playing and
Speaker:you start looking at the steps like I'm gonna try this. I may be bad. I mean bad at first,
Speaker:but I'm gonna try and then you get the hang of it and you can't wait for the next party.
Speaker:It's the same concept with holidays that are meant to be here. Juneteenth. No one knows
Speaker:about it because they haven't experienced what the story is all about and where it's taking
Speaker:us. And so when you talked about brand awareness and marketing terms brand awareness is like
Speaker:a great example is If I say, if someone says, Hey, do you want soda? What's the first, maybe
Speaker:two companies that you think of Pepsi and Coca-Cola? There you go. Right. And those stories were
Speaker:passed down from when they were first establishing their brand awareness and now Pepsi and Coca-Cola
Speaker:is a household name. Right. I need a Coke. You don't even say soda anymore. Can I get a Coke?
Speaker:Even if you're talking about other sodas. Hey, can I get a Coke? Right. And Juneteenth needs
Speaker:that opportunity to be able to. share its stories and create experiences for this generation.
Speaker:So the next generation has confidence in what it's all about, and they can celebrate it in
Speaker:a way that is positive and not necessarily negative. Yeah, I love your approach on just on this
Speaker:topic. You know, I feel a lot of people have a lot of takes around Juneteenth, many things
Speaker:with the black culture and just bringing it up, raising awareness and I just like your
Speaker:approach to this, your thoughts on how we can kind of move past this brand awareness stage
Speaker:and into this place where we can ensure that Juneteenth is owned by the black community
Speaker:and your thoughts are doing this through content and storytelling, which seems wild, it seems
Speaker:crazy. Like what? Okay, chill man, I'll take you to TikTok conversations somewhere else,
Speaker:but no, I think you actually have a really good point. Like why do you think storytelling is
Speaker:so important? to just increase the awareness, acknowledge and respect for Juneteenth. couple
Speaker:of aspects of storytelling and its importance to the community, right? People, stories are
Speaker:sticky, right? Stories are like s'mores or like your favorite dessert. Once you take it, like
Speaker:once you have that great experience, you are reminded to go back to it over and over and
Speaker:over again, even if you don't want to, because you see, you know, you know, you need to get
Speaker:in the gym, but that you look at that pie and you're like, right? So stories have a stickiness
Speaker:factor to it. Stories also help bridge the gap between education level. It doesn't require
Speaker:for you to have a college vocabulary. It doesn't require for you to have a PhD vocabulary to
Speaker:tell stories. Kids tell stories all the time. Adults, teachers, educators, professionals,
Speaker:we tell stories every day. Now some are visual storytelling, which helps because some of us
Speaker:cannot express how we feel inside through words alone. Sometimes we have this kinesthetic learning.
Speaker:So we kinesthetic storytellers, we show people the story. Right? And then there are those
Speaker:who have the gift of gab where they're able to paint pictures with words. And so storytelling
Speaker:allows every group to participate in invest in the holiday, just like our content, right?
Speaker:When we create content for the people, we create content that we're passionate about, that we
Speaker:really care about. You and I may say the same. may talk about the same topic, but because
Speaker:our storytelling element is different from each other, we resonate with different type of people,
Speaker:which then creates our which actually makes our industry even stronger. Because now you
Speaker:have different perspectives on the same topic. And now it's being the community is being rewarded
Speaker:with our worldview on that topic. And the same thing goes for Juneteenth, it needs the stories
Speaker:from everyone, including the kids, including the grandparents. to be able to talk about
Speaker:where Juneteenth is taking us, not necessarily keeping us in the past, but where it's taken
Speaker:us. And so that's my question for you. Where do you think the experience should take us
Speaker:and how should we look at it when it comes to future opportunities to build community together?
Speaker:That's a good question, really good one, because it is important to look at the past. I myself
Speaker:need to learn more about Juneteenth. I only know that it was symbolized as a day where
Speaker:the last enslaved people were made free, or at least documented, because you know how people
Speaker:do. But it's not just that we can't just stop and look at the past. We really have to just
Speaker:learn from it and kind of dictate to determine how we're going to move forward. And when I
Speaker:think of moving forward, it would be kind of ignorant for me to just think about... the
Speaker:black community because we already have people coming into trying to exploit the holiday take
Speaker:ownership of it. You know, we see the conogra food group leave it is who actually filed a
Speaker:trademark for the mark of Juneteenth. That's like, yo, I'm claiming ownership over this.
Speaker:This is now mine. You can celebrate you can enjoy it by own this. And that's kind of terrifying.
Speaker:Right? It's like, okay, you know, something that's ours is literally up for grabs. And
Speaker:if it was approved, there's nothing we could really do about it outside of just protest
Speaker:and advocate. No, luckily they pulled it, but it just makes me think, okay, that's one thing
Speaker:that we've seen. What else can happen? So in addition to like worrying about the dangers,
Speaker:I also have to think about, okay, how are other people going to interact? It's a federal holiday.
Speaker:Not no longer just the black holiday. It's a federal holiday. everybody in America can celebrate
Speaker:it. And they're also interested in not just from an appropriate appropriation, you know,
Speaker:standpoint, they're not trying to gentrify it or anything. But you know, a lot of people
Speaker:really do want to acknowledge and support and appreciate not only what happened, but just,
Speaker:you know, support the black community. So like, how do we want them to celebrate this holiday?
Speaker:These are some of the questions I'm asking now. But you know, I feel like we first need to
Speaker:really figure out where we as a culture, as a community, how do we want to celebrate it?
Speaker:Like what do we want to do? What do we want it to look like? All these different things.
Speaker:So yeah, I don't know, but I'm trying to find out. You're hitting some point. You're hitting
Speaker:some great points right now, right? You said what it feels like, what it looks like, and
Speaker:what it sounds like. And that shapes how people will celebrate it. who are not a part of a
Speaker:part of the main community, but want to be a part of the culture and the community itself,
Speaker:right. So I was getting my suit measurements just recently, right. Preparing for a wedding
Speaker:and I was speaking to the young lady, amazing young lady into fashion, wants to learn the
Speaker:ins and outs. She's worked every single job that you can think of so that she can run her
Speaker:business in an efficient way. I'm super proud of what she's doing at such a young age. And
Speaker:she said, you know, I was really excited to have Juneteenth off and we really didn't have
Speaker:it, which sucks because, you know, I wanted to be able to kind of celebrate with people,
Speaker:you know, and build memories and experiences, right? It's not that was cool, but she was
Speaker:like, you cannot believe what they did here. They served this cool aid.
Speaker:I tried to call it something else. They served us cool. That's not your stuff. What's that
Speaker:plane? She said, no, for real. Happy Juneteenth and served everybody cool. Right. And that's
Speaker:what I mean by it's important for us to be storytellers at every level. Kids, teenagers, young adults,
Speaker:the older generation. We have to tell the stories that matter and create the culture and the
Speaker:experiences for this holiday. Or everybody's going to be giving us Kool-Aid everywhere we
Speaker:go, just because they think that's the narrative about black people. How to celebrate black
Speaker:people. And do some people know that's not how you celebrate a black people? Of course. Right?
Speaker:Of course. And some people may do it intentionally, right? But then there are others who are just
Speaker:they have they hear what they hear, right? They hear their stories on the other side of the
Speaker:coin and they think that this is what black people like and this is what black people do.
Speaker:So what the brand feels like, what the brand sounds like, what the brand looks like is very,
Speaker:very key because the brand can sound like kids playing on the playground for the first time
Speaker:and after seeing their friends for the first time after the pandemic. That's a moment, right?
Speaker:How many kids didn't see their friends for a year and a half, two years. And when they saw
Speaker:them, they ran and cried and played like it was their last, like, you know, it was the
Speaker:last day they would ever play again, right? Maybe it looks like that. Maybe it sounds like
Speaker:hearing a song from the OJs or Stevie Wonder for the first time, the Gap Band for the first
Speaker:time, or maybe it was like hearing Kendrick for the first time. We can shape it with the
Speaker:stories we tell as long as we own those stories. And so if you want to create brand awareness
Speaker:around a holiday, we have to create the story. We have to tell the stories. share the stories,
Speaker:show the stories through our content, through our collaboration, and then we have to build
Speaker:up brand equity. Because without brand equity, there's no true influence. You're just another
Speaker:product and service that someone else can take for themselves. So for people who, you know,
Speaker:maybe they don't talk about branding all day or content creation all day. What is brand
Speaker:equity? We hear that word equity. up a lot, you know, when it comes to wealth, ownership,
Speaker:and then we also hear oftentimes associated with equality. When you thinking about the
Speaker:brand of Juneteenth and brand equity, can you break down what that means for us? Yeah, I
Speaker:mean, if you think about it, right? Someone that has equity has what? Ownership. Ownership,
Speaker:they have steak and whatever that product service may be. Most people when they talk about equity,
Speaker:talk about your house, right? Right? How much equity do you have in your home? You know,
Speaker:how much equity do you build with ownership and generational wealth? Same thing goes with
Speaker:a brand and a product. You know, if we don't put into Juneteenth what it needs, the equity
Speaker:is low and so you can't get funding. There's no influence. When I think of brand equity,
Speaker:it's like how much influence can I, am I creating or how much impact I'm creating because I'm
Speaker:out there known as a certain, in a certain way. Right? So question is this, when you think
Speaker:of, and I can't believe I'm going to say this, I sound like a, sound like one of those movie
Speaker:stars. When you think of Chris Ward Jr. What's the first thoughts that come to mind? Chris
Speaker:Ward Jr. You know, the first thought is, okay, named after his father as well, so am I. My
Speaker:father named me the second though. And the second thought is, okay, Chris, he's someone who has
Speaker:figured out who he is, and more importantly, knows how to communicate that with the world.
Speaker:And in doing so, he's like, okay, I could help other people with that as well. So he's helping
Speaker:people not only. find their story, tell their story, but truly understand the impact and
Speaker:the power behind that story as well. Kind of getting rid of the clouds of confusion so you
Speaker:can see where you're going. Now look at that. That is your perception of me, right? Is that
Speaker:valuable to you? What I bring to the table? Yeah. Is that a premium to you or someone else?
Speaker:A premium value that's brought to the table? Absolutely. So brand equity is important because
Speaker:it is the perception of the value the brand brings to the table or into the environment.
Speaker:So if Juneteenth is not seen as valuable, its brand is not seen as valuable. It's not seen
Speaker:as bringing a premium value to the environment and to the American experience, then it doesn't
Speaker:have, it doesn't have great brand equity. It doesn't have that same impact because we need
Speaker:people to talk about Juneteenth the way that they talk about other holidays that are important
Speaker:to the other communities that are out there. So when we talk about branding, it's not necessarily
Speaker:to make money. It's, it's perception. Perception is very important for a lot of people. Brands
Speaker:perception creates a premium value. So when younger like my son, if he sees a Gucci shirt,
Speaker:he's like, it doesn't matter how ugly it is. He's like, man, that's fly. That's high fashion.
Speaker:That's I love that. That's ugly shirt, bro. Yeah, we never serious talk about high fashion.
Speaker:Right? Like high fashion. No, that's an ugly shirt. And what's crazy is he has a great eye
Speaker:for fashion. But because of the perception of having a Gucci shirt, or the perception of
Speaker:having what they see as high class, premium brands, that perception changes the value of
Speaker:how someone sees it and interacts with it. Right now, Juneteenth doesn't have much. brand equity
Speaker:and it needs to build up. And the way that you do that is with the stories. The stories is
Speaker:the way that you build it up and it allows it to travel. Cause that's the world we live in
Speaker:today. How easy is it for your message, your story to travel to others without it diluting,
Speaker:I'm guessing that's the right word to say diluting the value or the message or the potency of
Speaker:the holiday. And if you can do that effectively. then it's here to stay. If you can't do that,
Speaker:then you'll get more Juneteenth ice cream, Juneteenth fireworks and all that stuff. Right.
Speaker:Juneteenth fireworks sounds fire, actually. It does. I think I'd be in the trademark on
Speaker:that one. That would be tight. Let's follow that one real quick. Juneteenth fireworks for
Speaker:sure. I don't know about the red velvet ice cream. Y'all was wild for that one. I just
Speaker:want to let y'all know. Y'all know, if y'all seen this right now, y'all was out of pocket
Speaker:for that. Out of pocket. Come on, man. Yeah, and for those of you who are like, I kind of
Speaker:want to try it. There's actually Black on. ice cream brands that have that flavor. So we don't
Speaker:have to give in. We have to play these games. We're not the dance for anybody. Yeah, I can
Speaker:still can't believe they really came out with that. I know what it's like to I bet like,
Speaker:you know, that person was in there like talking on the black employees. So what's your favorite?
Speaker:Have you ever heard of a red velvet? Come on, come on, bro. Come on. What you doing out here?
Speaker:That's a better way of explaining what brand equity is really all about. And people don't
Speaker:think to build it or invest in it. They think, let me just get all the followers that I can.
Speaker:Let me make it look like I'm doing big things instead of actually creating value so that
Speaker:when you're not around, people talk about you in a certain way. We talk about this all the
Speaker:time, right? I'm not looking to get clients, but the clients find me.
Speaker:That's a power brand. I have to say that like, it's not a focus of mine. It is, but it's not
Speaker:the end of the world. I want to create a place where what I present out there, my brand and
Speaker:what it's all about is helping people, it's helping people fill in the gaps, right? Fill
Speaker:in the gaps and Juneteenth needs to be able to do that for the community as well. What
Speaker:gaps does it fill, right? Because what does the 4th of July do? for people. Hmm. What does
Speaker:it remind you of? The question just symbolizes freedom, independence, the leaving the control
Speaker:from the UK. For a lot of people, something that I'm starting to pay more attention to
Speaker:now is a day just to, for a lot of people immigrated to the country. It's great to celebrate their.
Speaker:Immigration day. I mean, of course they have their anniversary, but truly just being like
Speaker:yo, we're here We made it that's kind of beautiful thing too. So I think freedom I think it represents
Speaker:the sacrifices that a lot of people made represents I guess independence. And it's interesting
Speaker:because, you know, the more you learn about Juneteenth, the more you realize that, oh,
Speaker:it's independence for some. And I think that scares a lot of people and kind of threatens
Speaker:this kind of, this picture that they've built in their minds. But yeah, I think for most
Speaker:people, well, for some people, it represents freedom, self-governance, and just liberty.
Speaker:being liberated. Look how interesting that answer was. It went from the freedom of America, right?
Speaker:To then those who immigrated here and it reminds them of the independence that they have, the
Speaker:freedom that they have here. It's kind of like a reminder, right? So the story is already
Speaker:taking a different turn. For some, it's about military service. and those who fight for our
Speaker:freedom, if there's a connection, emotional connection to the military and the family.
Speaker:And usually they have people in their family that served. So that story is told, which creates
Speaker:a strong bond between the holiday and the people. Then you have those who are immigrants that
Speaker:came over, became citizens. Maybe life wasn't the best. back. Maybe it was best. We don't
Speaker:know. But whatever it is, they're here and celebrate freedom the way that America does. Right. And
Speaker:then there are those who don't even see the holiday in that way. And they just say, Hey,
Speaker:it's a great time that all of us, our family can get together and just see each other. Regardless
Speaker:of the reason why they celebrate, it makes the holiday stronger. It makes it stronger because
Speaker:of those stories. That's what I mean by why storytelling is so effective, right? It does
Speaker:the marketing for you, it does the sales for you, it does the vision casting for you, it
Speaker:does the modern, you know how some people wanna modernize their brand? The new stories do that
Speaker:for you. Why do you think? I know we're going to this supposed to be about Juneteenth, but
Speaker:let's just talk about colleges and the big time corporations that are out there and the companies
Speaker:that people work for. Why do they want to work for these amazing big companies? What's the
Speaker:main reason for them wanting to work there? They want that experience. They want to, I
Speaker:mean, saying you work at these companies that raises your profile up, you know, it helps
Speaker:your brand grow a bit, you know. You know, saying you work for Google is like, Oh, you're the
Speaker:smartest person or most creative person that ever existed. Yeah, raising the profile, right?
Speaker:Because you work at these places. But before these places could have that status and that
Speaker:brand equity in that space, they leverage the stories of people who work there. Without those
Speaker:stories, there is no company because without people, there's no companies.
Speaker:So we see it's the same detail for a holiday without the people and the stories from the
Speaker:people that see going in a positive direction and forwarding it in a way that creates a sense
Speaker:of great identity, respectful experiences and intentions and allowing it to grow into something
Speaker:stronger than what it is today. That is what the stories will do. It will help people embrace
Speaker:the holiday. just like people embrace new companies. Once the stories come out of this person doing
Speaker:this and they wanna be a part of that, they want to be a part of at least a chapter, a
Speaker:sentence in one of those stories. And if you can just have a little piece to invest and
Speaker:share, it goes a long way. It goes a very, very long way until. I may be saying brand awareness,
Speaker:brand equity, but really what we're saying is if you want the value of this holiday to increase
Speaker:so that people perceive it in a way that it should be perceived and treated in a way it
Speaker:should be treated, we need to fill it up with stories that are so moving, so connected and
Speaker:progressing us forward that the next generation says, hey, we're going to keep pushing. We're
Speaker:going to keep pushing. pushing this so that it is exactly what those people before us talked
Speaker:about. Yeah, that's so key. And I'm thinking about it, you know, every major holiday that's
Speaker:like truly strong stands the test of time to have a strong story behind it. Even holidays
Speaker:where the story is really like, okay, hold up, do we actually want to celebrate it? It has
Speaker:a strong story behind it. Like, I'm gonna go ahead and call it out. Thanksgiving, you know.
Speaker:We got to we got to revisit that one love that's a time off love we could all come together,
Speaker:but we got to revisit that but it does have a very strong story behind it Christmas, probably
Speaker:the most ultimate stories actually it's like a double story got Santa Claus we got Jesus.
Speaker:It's like, boom, it's like they, they really came through with that story. There so we really
Speaker:got to like really take a look at Juneteenth we already know the importance but how can
Speaker:we just like, just, just really, like you said. just increase the awareness, show the value.
Speaker:I'm thinking like we got to bring some like Marvel energy to Juneteenth, like not to, you
Speaker:know, just reduce the importance of it to make it entertaining or something like that. But
Speaker:I think there's a lot of potential there and a lot of really amazing things that happen.
Speaker:Like, just like the one story I know about is Major General Gordon Granger, who was the person
Speaker:who actually arrived. to Galveston, Texas to announce the end of the Civil War and announces
Speaker:ends of slavery. This is like two years after the war. Civil War had ended two years after
Speaker:slavery was already supposed to be over. But I know there's a whole story there like showing
Speaker:up to the slave plantation. Yeah, your time's up. Like what happened? What went down? When
Speaker:during that announcement? I know they don't just like, okay, that's cool. Everyone go home
Speaker:now. Have a great time. Here's a gift bag. Thanks for what you do. I know it didn't happen. Right.
Speaker:Yeah. Come back. None of that. So like what, what really happened? There's a lot of things,
Speaker:I think just the general public, myself, a lot of people don't know about, and it's time to
Speaker:really put our foot in the storytelling. I couldn't have said it any better. I mean, you mentioned
Speaker:names of the past and then who knows whoever somebody could be watching this and listening
Speaker:to this right now and idea sparks just because we're doing our part. Thanks. Speaking of sparking
Speaker:ideas. I think best way to close this out is kind of creating a challenge.
Speaker:come up with the stories for Juneteenth. I'm talking to content creators, I'm talking to
Speaker:non-content creators. Everyone has a role to play in this because there's a lot of things
Speaker:that we need to determine. We really need a true blueprint, a doctrine on how Juneteenth
Speaker:is going to be respected, celebrated, and how to ensure that we still maintain complete ownership
Speaker:of it. Because everyone wants a piece of it. Like I really want everyone to, you know, come
Speaker:together, figure out like what... what food is going to be served when Kool-Aid and what,
Speaker:you know, I won't even mention that. I'm going to try to put a joke on what you said earlier,
Speaker:but yeah, scratch that. I don't even touch it. We don't need we don't need to talk about you.
Speaker:Unless you want to say it's hot, bro. She was hot. She looked at me like I would. Yeah, that's
Speaker:why I still can't believe that really serving Kool-Aid. Like you see that all the time in
Speaker:February, like schools will serve mac and cheese, fried chicken and Kool-Aid and watermelon.
Speaker:It's like, I mean. I enjoy some of these foods, but it's kind of weird. So it's kind of pandering.
Speaker:But yeah, this is really important because like we, like some other brands you may have heard
Speaker:of, Uncle Ben's, Famous Amos, Mrs. Butterforth, or I mean, Aunt Jemima, like black faces not
Speaker:owned by black people. Famous Amos and Uncle Ben started off owned by black people. They're
Speaker:not anymore. Famous Amos cannot use his name on any other products. We don't want that for
Speaker:Juneteenth. So it is. Yeah. I really want to hear from y'all. What does Juneteenth mean
Speaker:to you? How do you want it to be celebrated? And what is the impact it's going to have on
Speaker:our future as a community, as global citizens, as black people. Yeah. And if you're not black,
Speaker:that's okay too. If you want to be a part of the culture and still celebrate it, what's
Speaker:your idea? As long as it doesn't have Kool-Aid in it, we cool, man. We cool. As long as it
Speaker:doesn't have Kool-Aid in it, I'm cool. Matter of fact, if you're not black, you don't need
Speaker:to recommend any food or beverages. Yeah, yeah, just show up, man. Just show up and just show
Speaker:up and just enjoy, man. And yeah, honestly, I know we're joking with that, but you know,
Speaker:some of the best experiences come from just showing up. Like I said earlier, I didn't know
Speaker:how to bachata until I went to a party where it was part of the culture and I just embraced
Speaker:it. Invited to it, right. Yeah, I loved it, man. It was a blast. So every Thursday night
Speaker:I was out at the club, you know, I was doing my thing. Right. And I would have never had
Speaker:that experience if I wasn't open. Open to learning, open to knowing, open to being wrong. That
Speaker:is a very, very big piece of it, aspect of it. Being a human being is also knowing that you
Speaker:can be wrong and embracing it and saying, hey, no, my bad. I had no idea. I thought it was
Speaker:this way. I learned something today and you appreciate it more.
Speaker:Yeah. I can't wait to hear it. Where can we go find you, Chris? You can find me every Tuesday,
Speaker:not every Tuesday, but certain Tuesdays with Walter on the growth. As you can see, I love
Speaker:new growth. Make sure you get that shirt to that. Sure. I love it. Yeah, I got to make
Speaker:sure I get one of those every Tuesday or Tuesdays that I'm there on LinkedIn audio rooms with
Speaker:Walter. You can also find me at Chris Ward, Jr. chorus, Instagram if you're still over
Speaker:there, and Christopher Ward Jr. here on LinkedIn. So yeah, I can't wait to connect and resonate
Speaker:with your stories. You know, if you're willing to share with me, I'm cool. I'm willing to
Speaker:listen as much as I can and vibe. So where can they find you, Walter? If you're listening
Speaker:to this right now, tuning into right now, just make sure you stay tuned to wherever you're
Speaker:checking this out. Boss Locks all over the place. social media, but there's something new as
Speaker:well. There's a lot of places you could be, right? Like so many places, Instagram, Twitter,
Speaker:TikTok, Snapchat. It's like every month there's a new place. It's like, oh, you gotta be here.
Speaker:You gotta be here. I am everywhere, but you don't need to catch me everywhere. Sometimes
Speaker:I'm only over here. Sometimes I'm only on LinkedIn. Sometimes I'm only on Instagram. Sometimes
Speaker:I'm only right here on the podcast. The best way to make sure you're engaged is just joining
Speaker:the text community that's texting podcast to 9 1 4 3 5 3 4 1 7 6 because then you won't
Speaker:miss anything. You'll know exactly where I am. So yeah, go ahead, follow me wherever you are
Speaker:right now. Definitely because you'll see me again. But go ahead text podcast 9 1 4 3 5
Speaker:3 4 1 7 6. Also, I know you might be by yourself, but go ahead and give me a round of applause.
Speaker:Cause I actually got that number all the way down. I don't learn full numbers that quickly.
Speaker:Like the process to learn my grandma's phone number when I was younger. Took a long time.
Speaker:I'm still trying to learn my girlfriend's number. I almost got it.
Speaker:Alright, appreciate y'all tuning in. Friz, thank you for joining me. Love that you came through
Speaker:to share this with us. Yeah, I can't wait for what's next. Matter of fact, if you're still
Speaker:listening, text your ideas to that number. 914-353-4176.
Speaker:Go ahead and text it right there. I want to hear what you got to say. Peace.
Speaker:Bye!
