Olympia will hold its Juneteenth Celebration Festival at the Rebecca Howard Park on Sunday, June 19, with the city's Parks, Arts and Recreation Department partnering with the Women of Color in Leadership Movement to host the community event.
According to Equity, Inclusion and Belonging specialist Olivia Salazar de Breaux at the city council meeting yesterday, this year is the second year that Olympia will celebrate Juneteenth.
Salazar-de Breaux said the city government is also officially observing Juneteenth as a holiday. "So our city offices will be closed on Monday, June 20."
"We will also be flying the Juneteenth flag over city hall later this week," Salazar de Breaux added.
The celebration will start at 1 p.m. and ends at 5 p.m.
"The whole marketplace is about our history,” explained Shawna Hawk, founder and executive director of the Women of Color in Leadership Movement, who was present during the meeting
Hawk said the celebration on Sunday would be full of music, dancing, and recognition and will also feature a marketplace with a history of Africans and African-Americans and how it played out in some parts of America when masters allowed their slaves some downtime to sell their goods.
City proclamation
The Olympia City Council signed a proclamation yesterday designating June 19, 2022 as Juneteenth in Olympia.
"Word about the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation was delayed some two and a half years, to June 19, 1865, in reaching authorities and African-Americans in the South and the Southwestern United States," the proclamation signed yesterday stated.
It added that June 19th has a special meaning to African-Americans, who dubbed the event "Juneteenth." Many in the African-American community have celebrated it for more than a century.
"[Juneteenth] is an important step in American history," Hawk said, adding that Olympia's proclamation "is a powerful step for us here in Olympia. I am happy to be a part of this community as it moves forward."
Councilmember Dontae Payne recounted that "Juneteenth" is a combination of the words June and nineteenth. He said it is a historic event celebrating the abolishment of slavery in the United States 157 years ago.
In the proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, declaring the enslaved in Confederate territory free.
The century-old proclamation paved the way for the passing of the 13th Amendment, which formally abolished slavery in the United States.
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Honestyandrealityguy
As an immigrant myself, I want to make sure I understand slavery in the USA.
Beginning with indentured servants from the Barbary Coast (predominantly white) and Africa (predominantly black).
Then a black indentured servant who worked off his servitude conspired with the African ships for these servants to become slaves. He actually went to court, and won the right to own another person.
Of course, he owned the first black slaves, then sold to his black friends, native Americans, and whites. It took the north 10 years to repeal that law.
As the story was told today a white Republican President freed the slaves. At that time, thousands of black families owned slaves and the native Americans owned slaves and white people owned slaves.
William Ellison, a black tobacco farmer was one of the largest slave owners.
Ancestors of many prominent blacks including Barack Obama, were slave holders. Hundreds of thousands of white lives were sacrificed helping to get rid of slavery.
I believe slavery is wrong. However, we have slavery today with illegal immigration and human trafficking. I hope we can put an end to that.
And I wonder if there would have ever been slavery in this country without Mr. Johnson, a black man who won the right to own another human being?
Friday, June 17, 2022 Report this
Guccarelli
Hey, Honestyandrealityguy:
One: The 21st century Republican party now harbors white supremacists and is far removed from Lincoln.
Two: "I wonder if there would have ever been slavery in this country without Mr. Johnson, a black man who won the right to own another human being."
Your effort to pin the blame for slavery in this country on a black man is utterly dishonest and reveals your own racist agenda.
Three: Honestyandreality is something you know nothing about.
Sunday, June 19, 2022 Report this