Juneteenth aims to educate, raise awareness
The community is invited to commemorate African American and Reconstruction Era history Saturday in El Centro during the annual Juneteenth celebration.
The annual event has longstanding roots in the Valley and is making a comeback after it had undergone a hiatus for a few years recently, said Marlene Thomas, Imperial Valley Social Justice Committee chair and one of the this year’s event organizers.
“We’re trying to revive Juneteenth and what it means,” Thomas said.
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, commemorates June 19, 1865, when federal troops entered Texas and forced it to heed the abolition of slavery, which the state had failed to do despite 1862’s Emancipation Proclamation.
Juneteenth is the oldest and only African American holiday observed, dating back more than 150 years.
Here in California, Juneteenth is also recognized at Juneteenth National Freedom Day, commemorated the third Saturday of each June, since it was formally recognized as a holiday in 2002 by Gov. Gray Davis.
“Most people in California have no idea this was designated a holiday,” Thomas said.
Event organizers are hoping attendees will learn more about the holiday as well as African Americans’ commitment to equality in the nation.
The celebration’s guest speaker will be Tanesia Belvin, minister of Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Saginaw, Mich. Belvin is also a mother, military wife and entrepreneur who will share the richness and significant contributions of African Americans, Thomas said.
Aside from a formal reading of California’s proclamation declaring June 19 as National Freedom Day, attendees will have the opportunity to observe Brawley Mayor Sam Couchman read aloud the Emancipation Proclamation while dressed in the uniform of a Union soldier from the Civil War era.
Couchman has had the opportunity to read aloud Shakespearean literature and other historical documents to audiences, but has yet to deliver the Emancipation Proclamation’s oft-cited 719 words.
“This is a new thing for me,” he said.
Couchman’s involvement with local Juneteenth celebrations date back to when he was the former county Workforce Development Board director, ensuring board representatives’ participation.
As a history buff himself, Couchman said that it behooves the American citizenry to become familiar with both good and bad aspects of the country’s nuanced history.
He also issued a strong rebuke of any attempt to erase controversial events and people from American history, including the current attempts in Southern states to remove iconic Confederate statutes from public buildings.
“I believe in telling history the way it was,” Couchman said. “I prefer we learn from that and we move forward.”
Saturday’s celebration will start at 5 p.m. at the El Centro Community Center, 375 S. First St., El Centro. The event is free to the public and will include face painting, arts and crafts, a water splash, exhibits, vendors and food and refreshments.