YPSILANTI, MI – Ypsilanti community members braved rain showers Saturday to celebrate Juneteenth, which was named an official city holiday in Ypsilanti earlier this year.
Community members and Black-owned businesses gathered in the parking lot behind the Puffer Reds shoe store in downtown Ypsilanti, where they listened to music, bought food and products from local vendors and celebrated Juneteenth near one of two Black Lives Matter murals painted in Ypsilanti last month.
Black Lives Matter murals coming to Ypsilanti ahead of Juneteenth celebration
“Juneteenth being a legal holiday, the (Black Lives Matter) murals, those are all symbols that we’re excited about, but we can’t stop there. We have to continue to work,” said Trische Duckworth, and event organizer and executive director of community organization Survivors Speak.
“Today, I celebrate to continue the work ahead and the possibilities of what we can do together.”
Juneteenth is observed on June 19 because that’s the date in 1865 when Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and told slaves of their emancipation -- two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
Now is the time that Juneteenth should be recognized, according to Sonya Williams, owner of custom doormat company Swag by Sonya.
“It’s been how many years since 1865, and it’s just now being recognized,” Williams said. “There are African American people who didn’t even know what June 19 meant, so just the history and getting people knowledgeable and well-informed about the history of African Americans is truly amazing.”
It was only three or four years ago when Athena Johnson, owner of Black Stone Bookstore in Ypsilanti, learned about Juneteenth. She didn’t learn about the holiday during her time in Ann Arbor Public Schools, but when she learned more about it, she and her husband, Kip, taught her kids about the holiday.
“Our children have come up very aware of who they are, their culture, why it’s important to support the community they live in, because they don’t live just in the Black community, they live in a whole community,” Johnson said. “That’s how we’ve raised our kids – to be listeners and understand that everyone has a story.”
Johnson was supposed to perform live music with her band and Michigan guitarist John E. Lawrence, but the performance was canceled by the weather.
During the event, many referenced both Black Lives Matter murals in Ypsilanti and the importance of them as calls to action. While they’re positive cosmetic additions to the Ypsilanti community, Duckworth and other community activists hope they can be much more than that.
“We’re going to host programming there and Survivors Speak is actually going to host a wrongful conviction summit at one of the mural sites,” Duckworth said. “We really want to push that it’s not just a cosmetic statement, that we’re uplifting criminal justice reform, racial equity and all of those things to build and uplift our people.”
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The Link LonkJune 20, 2021 at 03:24AM
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‘We have to continue to work:’ Ypsilanti community celebrates first official Juneteenth holiday - MLive.com
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