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Juneteenth: Not a commercial holiday, but a…

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Juneteenth: Not a commercial holiday, but a celebration of Black freedom

Community leaders celebrating Juneteenth hope that the real meaning behind June 19, a day honoring African American freedom and pride, is not lost.

Kevin Anthony, center, places a sign in the grass as Myla Gibson, left, does the same during the Juneteenth celebration at Sylvan Park in Redlands on Saturday, June 17, 2023. Unity in the Community, the University of Redlands Black Students, Faculty, Staff and Administrators Association and the city of Redlands planned the two-day Juneteenth celebration which ended Saturday. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Kevin Anthony, center, places a sign in the grass as Myla Gibson, left, does the same during the Juneteenth celebration at Sylvan Park in Redlands on Saturday, June 17, 2023. Unity in the Community, the University of Redlands Black Students, Faculty, Staff and Administrators Association and the city of Redlands planned the two-day Juneteenth celebration which ended Saturday. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
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Riverside native Denise Booker sees Juneteenth not as a commercial holiday, or even a day off for some — but as a “day of remembrance and togetherness.”

“It’s a moment to recognize slavery and celebrate community,” Booker, co-founder of The B.L.A.C.K. Collective, said. She’s been involved with organizing the now-annual Juneteenth Celebration at Fairmount Park in Riverside, which was held this year on Saturday, June 17 — two years after Juneteenth became formally recognized in Congress.

Community members and leaders celebrating Juneteenth across Southern California hope that these public recognitions become concrete steps looking forward — and that the real meaning behind June 19, a day honoring African American freedom and pride, is not lost.

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People participate in the Juneteenth and CicLAvia.celebration in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 18, 2023. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when the last enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas were notified of their freedom — more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863. The day marks the formal end of slavery after the Civil War.

Though Black Americans have celebrated it as an independence day for generations, Juneteenth became more widely recognized after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020 — which sparked a nationwide racial reckoning and reignited the Black Lives Matter movement.

Over one year later, President Joe Biden signed legislation officially making Juneteenth a federal holiday, to “remember the moral stain, the terrible toll that slavery took on the country and continues to take,” Biden said in June 2021. “It’s not — simply not enough just to commemorate Juneteenth. After all, the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans didn’t mark the end of America’s work to deliver on the promise of equality; it only marked the beginning.”

California lawmakers will soon consider a statewide plan to repay eligible Black people for the political, economic, environmental and educational harms of slavery and systemic racism. A task force, created in 2021 to study the impact that slavery had on Black Californians and the descendants of slaves, made reparation payment proposals that it will present to the state legislature in late June — which could become a blueprint for the rest of the country.

“Slavery happened and is real. And the things we go through today, it’s real,” Booker said. “If we don’t share experiences, then we just leave it for the next generation to go ahead and repeat that, and we’re stuck in that cycle.”

Across the Southland, people honored Black history, freedom, and joy; while calling for an end to systemic racism and injustice.

The San Bernardino Juneteenth Committee put on a community Celebration of Freedom on Saturday, June 17 at the San Bernardino Valley College. Co-founder Edwin Johnson reflected on Juneteenth becoming a recognized holiday after the deaths of Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the weeks of protests that followed.

“It shouldn’t have taken that moment — the death of George Floyd — for this holiday or for this historic time to be broadcasted,” Johnson said. “People have been celebrating since 1865.”

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Emcee James Harris on stage leads the Juneteenth Celebration as the crowd dances along at the Civic Center Amphitheater in Moreno Valley on Saturday, June 17, 2023. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

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Chino resident and historian Margari Hill said that her grandfather was part of the Northern Migration, where 6 million African Americans moved away from the rural South to escape white supremacy and racial violence, and pursue freedom.

Hill, the executive director and co-founder of the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative, believes that reparations are needed.

“It is very clear when you think about the amount of resources that were lost by the unpaid labor of our ancestors, of the generational wealth, and (how) it continues beyond slavery, through Jim Crow… it affects Black communities, including Black Muslims,” Hill said. “So I think (reparations) would be an important way to right wrongs.”

Hill also attended the White House Juneteenth Concert on June 13. She called the event “emotional,” thinking back to her childhood growing up in San Jose, going to lively Juneteenth celebrations filled with music; eating soul food, peach cobbler and greens.

“Juneteenth was the beginning of summer, where you wear your brand new outfit,” Hill said. “There was always joy to it.”

Filmmaker Tanya Taylor planned a local Juneteenth celebration at the El Segundo Recreation Park on Monday, June 19, put on by her arts nonprofit, Black in Mayberry. She said the event highlights “African American culture, history and resilience” with Black-owned vendors, live performances, keynote speakers and community activities.

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Randy White performs during Monrovia’s third Juneteenth celebration at Station Square Park on Saturday June 17, 2023. (Photo by Keith Durflinger, Contributing Photographer)

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“Realizing there was a demand for a Juneteenth celebration in the South Bay, we really wanted to have the space for people to come and celebrate,” Taylor said.

Taylor said that she found out about El Segundo’s past sundown town laws — which banned Black people from living there or visiting after sunset — while creating her documentary, “Black in Mayberry,” about the Black experience in the area.

It’s a “very sad story of a racist past,” Taylor said. “A lot of people don’t realize that it’s by design that (El Segundo) is predominately White. It’s not that Black folks don’t enjoy being in seaside towns.”

Some locals refer to the area as “Mayberry by the sea,” a reference to “The Andy Griffith Show” in the 1960s, which was set in the idyllic, overwhelmingly White town of Mayberry.

Earlier this month, city officials proclaimed June 19 as Juneteenth Celebration Day in El Segundo.

Being able to openly recognize Juneteenth honors “the true meaning and sentiment of the day,” Taylor said. “It holds greatly for those whose livelihoods are still being fought for.”

Taylor emphasized that allies, companies and organizations should support Black businesses and causes, rather than try to organize their own — that, she said, is what makes real impact in Black liberation.

She and many other Juneteenth organizers hope the holiday doesn’t become over-commercialized — citing an example of when Walmart released a Juneteenth-themed ice cream flavor, swirled red velvet and cheescake, last year.

To brand a product with Juneteenth is to profit “off our suffering,” Taylor said. “I’m hoping it doesn’t become like Halloween.”

“This country has profiteered from the blood, sweat, tears and lives of Black people,” she added. “It’s inappropriate for this celebration to be used for personal gain if that gain isn’t going back to the Black community.”

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Lisa Williams takes a selfie at her vendor booth during the Juneteenth Festival at Centennial Park in Santa Ana on Saturday, June 17, 2023. The festival was sponsored by the Orange County Heritage Council and the City of Santa Ana. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

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In Irvine, community leaders partnered with BIPOC Orange County and other organizations for the city’s second annual Juneteenth Freedom Celebration held Sunday, June 18. Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan said that the collaboration was “to make sure the event is authentic.”

“Even though the Black population in Irvine is about 2%, they have dealt with inequity and racism the longest,” Khan said before the event. “Juneteenth is just one of the ways we hope people come together, learn about the history and culture, and make new friends.”

Orange County Heritage Council President Dwayne Shipp — whose mother Helen Shipp founded the county’s longtime Black History Month parade — said that Juneteenth events should be hosted by the Black community.

Just because it’s now a national holiday in the spotlight, Shipp said, people should “always look back to Black leaders to cultivate it and put it together, for we were affected by it. And who can tell our stories better than us?”

Shipp helped to bring back a 20-year-old Juneteenth celebration in Orange County. Santa Ana’s Centennial Park became the backdrop for a lively Juneteenth festival held on Saturday, themed “Together, we make a difference.”

While Black joy surrounds the national holiday, Juneteenth is also a poignant, reflective time to honor enslaved people who lost their lives, Shipp said.

“It’s important to our community that we recognize how far we have come, and how far we still have to go.”

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