HBO is streaming the 2019 series Watchmen for free from June 19 through June 21, as well as airing a marathon of the show over the weekend. This timing is not coincidental — June 19 is Juneteenth, a non–federally recognized American holiday that commemorates the final reading of the Emancipation Proclamation to enslaved Texans two years after the end of the Civil War.
Before this year, it was uncommon to treat Juneteenth as a holiday on par with the Fourth of July or Memorial Day, but nationwide protests against the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, and countless other Black Americans killed by police officers highlight the importance of celebrating Black historical milestones. Some companies, Mashable's parent company J2 Global included, chose to give their U.S. employees Juneteenth off for the first time this year, and many Americans who were unaware of the holiday's existence are learning its importance as banks, media companies, and even their own employers release related statements.
The connection between Juneteenth and HBO's free stream of Watchmen manifested when President Donald Trump planned to hold a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on the day of its observation. The rally has since been moved to the 20th, but the symbolism in Trump — whose campaign just this week posted Nazi imagery on his official Facebook page, among, you know, everything else — attempting to center his bid for reelection on Juneteenth in Tulsa specifically was not lost on his critics. Tulsa is the site of the deadliest incident of white supremacist violence in the history of the United States, when white Americans slaughtered hundreds of Black Tulsa citizens and injured thousands more in 1921.
Watchmen takes the Tulsa Massacre as a starting point to explore America's legacy of racist violence and opens the show with a horrific and poignant depiction of the slaughter. When the first episode aired, many viewers were unaware that the Tulsa massacre was a real historical event, leading to online discussion about how Black history and white supremacy are often ignored in school curriculum — a point showrunner Damon Lindelof addressed in a recent roundtable with The Hollywood Reporter. The rest of the show is even more educational.
It's telling that in Watchmen, most of the danger does not come from supervillains, but from the constant, looming presence of white nationalism.
Before Watchmen aired, it would have seemed strange to connect a miniseries non-sequel to Alan Moore's 1987 superhero comic of the same name to Juneteenth, the Tulsa Massacre, the American president's scheduling choices, and white supremacy. But the show is a hard-hitting and thoughtful meditation on institutional authority, racism, and America's failure to address white supremacist violence. By opening with the massacre, Watchmen centers Black trauma in a way few other shows have and follows the inherited pain of Black Americans through decades of oppression.
This trauma is explored through the lens of costumed heroes and science fiction, but Watchmen doesn't couch its themes in parable. It directly addresses the pervasive racism of American police in the past and fictionalized present (specifically calling out the NYPD in a brilliant black-and-white flashback episode) and creates a not-quite-fictional parallel history of heroism that stems from the righteous anger of Black Americans.
It's telling that in Watchmen, most of the danger does not come from the comic's original supervillains or fantastical threats, but the constant, looming presence of white nationalism and the idea that those who are meant to protect do so at their own racist discretion. For HBO to freely offer this show now is an unambiguous response to current events and a call for all interested parties to use its incredible story as an opportunity to discuss the pervasive dual legacies of police violence and white supremacy. It is an opportunity every American should take.
Watchmen is available to stream for free on HBO through June 21.
