Juneteenth 2020 — Let us gather at the water
The anguish and the hope of the past weeks have been weighing on us. COVID-19 has taken so many in our communities, made the vulnerable more so as the global economy has faltered. Across the US and around the world calls for the end of extrajudicial killings of Black people by the police and vigilantes ring out. For some, this moment has been a wake up call. For others, it is the continuation of a nightmare world of anti-Blackness. For some, calls for abolition are new, but for others of us it is what we have been demanding all along.
June 19, 1865 marks the day that enslaved people in Texas learned that the institution of slavery had been overturned as a result of the US Civil War and their continual efforts to liberate themselves, over many generations. Immediately, they rushed to find their family members, create works of art, build businesses, and community structures. They celebrated freedom by calling on their ancestorsʻ strength and even then, in 1865, imagined a world where Black lives would matter.
This year, the Honolulu City Council passed a resolution recognizing Juneteenth and the contributions of formerly enslaved people and people of African descent to Hawaiʻi since the founding of the Kingdom. The State of Hawaiʻi followed with a proclamation from Governor Ige.
We invited our community to gather at Mākālei Park, near Lēʻahi in Honolulu, to create a community altar to honor our ancestors, our continuing quest for liberation, and the building we are doing for a future where we are all truly free.
