Hundreds of Spokane community members celebrated Juneteenth at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Center Saturday. While the end of slavery in the United States is often recognized by President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, Juneteenth recognizes African American's freedom from slavery in a different way.
The 19th of June has always been special to Black Americans, but the holiday is now recognized within the United States federal government. President Joe Biden signed legislation into law on Thursday that made Juneteenth a federal holiday. It is a day to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19 of 1865, the Union army freed the last remaining enslaved people after the Civil War.
"Today means a lot to me especially, I'm 67 years old," retired Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church pastor Lonnie Mitchell said. "So I was back in the 60s when the civil rights movement was in its heated moments."
Before Mitchell became a staple in the Spokane community as the pastor of Bethel AME, he faced malicious discrimination growing up in Louisiana.
"To now have the Juneteenth federal holiday, it says a lot," he added. "It says that all those who have worked so hard for freedom is paying off. And so I just want to thank everybody who was involved in making this a national holiday."
Juneteenth in Spokane
There were at least 500 people out in at the MLK Center parking lot by mid-afternoon, according to Freda Gandy, MLK Center Executive Director.
"[People] gathered to celebrate freedom, to celebrate triumph, to just be together," Gandy said.
About 45 vendors set up booths and tables around the center and surrounding buildings. Community members danced, supported black-owned businesses, got vaccinated at a pop-up clinic and connected with other activists face-to-face, without a mask, for the first time since the pandemic began.
"Back in those days, I never imagined that this would happen, because it was just so vicious," Mitchell said. "So, I would have never thought about this in my life back then. Oh my goodness, all I can say is thank God I'm free, free at last, I'm free."
Mitchell and Gandy said the community still has work to do, but this gives everyone momentum to keep fighting for anti racist legislation.