2020 adds meaning for Juneteenth

Protests sharpen focus on racial inequalities, injustice

A year ago, Betty Jean Coleman marked Juneteenth in a small way.

“I made food. I invited some people over. A lot of my friends, they brought their kids. It was fun,” she said, recalling the gathering she organized in her neighborhood.

But this year, she wanted to make a bigger splash to celebrate the day on which slavery was considered abolished in America.

“We’re in the new Civil Rights movement,” said Coleman, 30, who helped organize Friday’s Juneteenth Community Celebration at Silver Star Christian Church.

She expects to draw a much bigger crowd.

Celebrations of Juneteenth, sometimes called Freedom Day or Jubilee Day, have taken on added meaning this year amid protests to end racial inequities and injustices.

“None of us can ignore the civil unrest that’s going on in our country and state today,” said state Rep. Geraldine Thompson, who has organized what she calls a “justice rally” of short speeches Friday