A low-key celebration of liberty in Lompoc, a single of three prepared in Santa Barbara County this weekend, marked a long forgotten but vital moment in American heritage.
Final year, President Joe Biden proclaimed Juneteenth a federal getaway to acknowledge and celebrate the day that enslaved Us citizens in Galveston, Texas, received word that President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation two decades previously and that they were being free of charge.
“Happy Liberty Working day. Delighted Juneteenth,” stated Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors chair Joan Hartmann, whose 3rd District consists of Lompoc. “Juneteenth is a wonderful day. It’s a celebration of liberty, but it is really also a remembrance of the horrifically cruel establishment of slavery and the legacy that even now haunts us to this really time.”
The designation of Juneteenth as a countrywide holiday followed the murder of George Floyd by Minnesota law enforcement officers and throughout the world protests against racism, Hartmann extra.
“Juneteenth seriously calls on us to discover a a lot more exact and complicated check out of record than the rosy model that numerous of us have been taught,” Hartmann stated. “We need to have to confront the inequities that carry on to this working day.”
That historical day of June 19, 1865 — Juneteenth — did not get highlighted in history lessons, Fourth District Supervisor Bob Nelson said.
“If there is certainly any day to rejoice our place it really should be Juneteenth,” Nelson claimed. “It is an crucial component of our background and a little something we should embrace. The flexibility we have in this country was last but not least understood, at minimum in notion, for all people today. That’s a legacy that we all have to live up to.”
Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors chair Joan Hartmann speaks for the duration of the Juneteenth celebration in Lompoc on Saturday. Hartmann signifies the 3rd District, which incorporates Lompoc. (Janene Scully / Noozhawk picture)
Nonprofit businesses and suppliers set up booths at Ryon Park offering assorted info, merchandise and even vaccines on the windy Saturday. The day bundled numerous speeches and performances on the phase together with Mayor Jenelle Osborne presenting a Juneteenth proclamation on behalf of the town.
A baking contest to decide on the greatest purple velvet cake, peach cobbler and sweet potato pie led to winners in all a few types. The winners ended up:
» Peach cobbler — Shaunnah Thomas, first spot Derek Dickerson, second spot and in memory of Lavonda Emerson, 3rd area
» Red velvet cake — Linda Williams, very first spot Unicee Felton, next spot
» Sweet potato pie — Trina Parker, initial spot Pat Hermengegildo, 2nd put
The Santa Maria/Lompoc Branch of the Countrywide Affiliation for the Improvement of Colored Individuals (NAACP) and Collective Cultures Creating Alter united to arrange the Juneteenth event.
Organizers reported Saturday’s party served to make sure that people recognize the past struggles, not position blame.
“We want them to understand that it is our record. It is in the past, but we require to accept it and we want to hardly ever ignore,” claimed Lawanda Lyons-Pruitt of the Santa Maria-Lompoc NAACP. “It’s just critical for folks to know that and to know the struggles our ancestors went via.”
The Santa Maria-Lompoc NAACP booth sells T-shirts explaining the great importance of the working day. (Janene Scully / Noozhawk photograph)
Later on Saturday, the Santa Ynez Valley marked Juneteenth with a celebration at Solvang Park.
On Sunday, the celebration moves to Santa Barbara, the place a block occasion is scheduled from midday to 5 p.m. in historically Black Santa Barbara, also recognised as the Funk Zone, on the 200 block of Gray Avenue, organizers claimed.
Performances, food stuff and a Black artisan sector are prepared at the function with the topic of “Caring for the Persons.” Facts on Santa Barbara’s occasion is obtainable by clicking right here.
Mainly because of the vacation, several federal workplaces will be shut Monday and mail would not be sent. State workplaces and community courts will continue being open up.
Even so, Santa Barbara County places of work together with Lompoc metropolis govt offices will be closed Monday in observance of Juneteenth.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at .(JavaScript should be enabled to perspective this e-mail address). Abide by Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Link with Noozhawk on Facebook.