The event in George Adams Park was a success. We had people out there Friday night and all day Saturday. We missed Sunday morning events.
From Friday night:
The mascot was at one point dancing to the very loud music. Seriously, my ears felt like they might burst. I left a bit before 8 but the party was still going strong.
Saturday morning
We were seated not too far from Democratic Candidate for Justice of Peace Precinct 1 Louis Rubio and his table.
There was a short speech, a song, a march to Alice O. Wilkins School (more info on the school and its history), and a tour inside.
There was speeches, a song, some conversations and pictures at the school, and a walk back to the park.
Joe Vickers
Dr. Jennifer Wimbish (her book) with Josh Tutt who is the Democratic Candidate running for SD-18 to unseat Lois Kolkhorst.
Josh Tutt with Paulette Clay who is one of the organizers of the event.
More pictures of the event at the park.
More speeches. Mayor Jack Whitlow is reading the proclamation.
Tony, one of the organizers giving a speech and introducing another speaker.
Jody Weaver giving updates on what is going on Port Lavaca and announced ground has broken on a Burger King AND a Starbucks on 35 in front of Walmart.
Vincent Phillips
Joe Vickers
Michael Clay
Jack Whitlow letting everyone know the importance of voting and that vendors (us) are here to register people to vote. It got a resounding round of applause.
Michael Clay asked for the organizers of the event to come forward and stand on the stage.
The organizers.
A minor scare. A power fluctuation caused the bouncy house to go down with kiddies inside.
Bouncy house back up and everyone's ok.
After that we waited about an hour or so more but no one was coming forward to register to vote so we decided to pack it in. The heat was getting worse too. Those interested in the booth were active voters. But we went out and let people know we care about them, about getting people registered to vote. I think that matters.
We have t-shirts and we have our paperwork so anywhere we go we can register people to vote. On Sunday I went to the Boujee on the Bay Depot Days Famer's Market thing and went shopping for a bit wearing my shirt with my purse holding my paperwork to register people and handouts on our Democratic Candidates up and down the ballot as well as handouts on polling locations.
No takers and since I was out all day Saturday until the afternoon I was sunburned, exhausted, and decided to go home vs checking out the Sunday events for Juneteenth.
I hope it was a great day for everyone. It was also Father's Day.
Today is Monday, the official day observed by our nation as Juneteenth and here is a wonderful article on it written by By Opal Lee and DeForest "Buster" Soaries "Juneteenth is meant to unite us, just like the Fourth of July" :
Opal Lee, an educator and activist known as “the grandmother of Juneteenth,” is a board member of Unity Unlimited. DeForest “Buster” Soaries is pastor emeritus of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens, N.J., and a board member of the Stand Together Foundation. They are co-chairs of the Heal America movement, which is launching the “Summer of Healing” on June 19.
Juneteenth is more than a holiday. It is not just a commemoration of the end of slavery. It is a day that celebrates America’s incredible capacity to self-correct by applying the timeless principles at our country’s core. Yet as we prepare to mark Juneteenth’s second year as a federal holiday, we have to ask: Will we let this celebration fall prey to the division and distraction that are tearing America down? Or will we embrace its true meaning, commit to ending the injustices that surround us, and ultimately lift America up?
By all rights, Juneteenth should be a day of great unity. When the enslaved people of Galveston, Tex., were told of their freedom on June 19, 1865, the promise of America became much more real and attainable. It was hardly the end of all injustice, but it was the end of one of the country’s original injustices. That’s why generations of Black Americans made June 19 into a long-standing holiday. What could be more American than remembering the forward march of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
Yet Juneteenth is at risk of failing to be a source of unity. In these partisan times, there is a tendency to ignore or politicize it. There is also a danger of commercialization — think corporate attempts to trademark the word “Juneteenth" — which would cheapen this celebration of justice. Regardless of color, creed or country of origin, all Americans should oppose these trends, with all the urgency we can muster. If we forget the meaning of Juneteenth, we have little chance of continuing the progress this day is meant to spotlight and spark.
Juneteenth asks Americans to recognize that our nation’s principles are neither grossly hypocritical nor naively aspirational. We have inherited lofty yet practical ideals, and it falls to us to implement them as best we can.
In 1865, that meant fighting attempts to reimpose slavery through violence. In 2022, it means opposing new forms of violence, whether it is violence that comes from within a community or violence perpetrated by the police. This murderous violence claims thousands of promising lives every year, breaks up families, and sows the distrust that poisons relationships and worsens situations. This crisis of violence has many sources and defies a simplistic explanation or a single solution. Yet solutions exist, and if we hope to find them, it will take Americans of all backgrounds working together.
Those who made Juneteenth what it is today would be the first to say this holiday is not an event; it’s an invitation. That includes those of us who fought to make it a federal holiday. One of us, Opal Lee, spent more than two decades spreading the word about the meaning of Juneteenth and the national need to rally around it. What started with a single teacher grew every day through collaboration, until a diverse group of people achieved what previous generations thought impossible.
In a similar way, rather than pointing fingers or accusing each other of bad faith, people should dedicate themselves to the hard work of combating violence in their cities and neighborhoods. The two of us have been inspired by groups that bring together police and communities for tough conversations and break the cycle of gang violence, such as the nonprofit Urban Specialists in Dallas. We think of projects that help people leaving the criminal justice system build better lives, such as Hudson Link in New York. There are dozens more we could name, and for every good effort we know about, we’re sure there are hundreds more — along with countless people whose ideas deserve to become a reality.
Juneteenth has always been about unleashing those ideas. It’s about putting the incredible power of community to work — not in an abstract sense but through the hard work of each of us as individuals. From the start, this holiday inspired Black Americans to celebrate overcoming the injustices of the past and take steps to pursue a more just future. And if our national history proves anything, it’s this: The more people who get involved in that work, the faster and better it goes. Just look at the civil rights movement, which inspired and then transformed our nation.
We can’t let Juneteenth become just another holiday or, worse, a holiday for only one segment of the country. We should see it for what it really is: the other half of the Fourth of July. These two holidays, which fall a mere two weeks apart, represent the best of America. One celebrates the Declaration of Independence, which contains what the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass called “saving principles.” The other celebrates America’s journey to live by those principles.
This great work is never done, and if we hope to do it, it will take the commitment of every American. Surely that’s a vision we can rally around, so we can truly celebrate freedom from the 19th of June to the Fourth of July — and move freedom forward every day of the year.
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