“Juneteenth is the truth”: Boulder prepares for its inaugural celebrations

After 156 years, Juneteenth is now recognized as a federal holiday. On June 17, 2021 President Joe Biden signed legislation legally making the day a federal holiday. June 19, 1865 marked the day in which enslaved Africans and African-Americans in Galveston, Texas were finally told that the Civil War had ended. For some, Juneteenth represents freedom for the United States more so than July 4. 

“Juneteenth is the truth,” Madelyn Strong-Woodley, executive committee member of the NAACP Boulder County, said, reflecting on the freedoms of Black Americans in the United States. Although many celebrate July 4 as America’s Independence Day, Strong-Woodley says Juneteenth is America’s true independence day because it signifies the day in which those who suffered the most oppression were finally told they were free. Strong-Woodley mirrors Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous quote, “No one is free until we are all free.”

Over the last couple of weeks, Strong-Woodley has worked in close partnership with Elizabeth Marasco and the City of Boulder to create Juneteenth recognition ceremonies across the county. Strong-Woodley had casually mentioned to Annett James, NAACP Boulder County’s chapter president, that it would be great if the city could have a flag raising ceremony, to which James recommended she get in contact with Marasco.

“I was amazed by how fast [Marasco] was willing to jump on board,” Strong-Woodley said. 

Although the process came to fruition in the past few weeks, it has been on the minds of the Human Relations Commission of Boulder since last fall, said Clay Fong, manager of Community Relations and Office of Human Rights. Responsible for creating a more welcoming and inclusive community, the Juneteenth proposal first came to the commission through the general event funding process. 

In the fall the commission had been approached by Jeremy Durham, Executive Director of Boulder Housing Partners. 

“Durham let us know that they decided to make Juneteenth a holiday for Housing Partners and was wanting to explore if the city would do the same,” said Fong. 

Moving forward, Fong says the commission is looking to start a public engagement process to solicit input and issue a recommendation to the City Council to make Juneteenth a holiday. 

Provided by the Boulder branch of Showing Up for Racial Justice, the Juneteenth flag represents “the new dawn when African Americans received their freedom from slavery and being enslaved for hundreds of years,” DeAndre Taylor, NAACP Boulder County member and Program Director, said in a city council meeting on Tuesday, June 15. 

Within days, Marasco was able to assist in organizing a flag raising ceremony for not just the City of Boulder, but for all cities across Boulder County. While the other cities will raise their flags on Saturday, the City of Boulder held a small ceremony for the flag raising on Monday, June 14 with Mayor Sam Weaver and Mayor Pro Tem Junie Joseph. 

“African Americans who were enslaved in the Southwest celebrated June 19, commonly known as ‘Juneteenth Independence Day,’ as inspiration and encouragement for future generations,” Joseph said before the flag was raised outside of Boulder’s Municipal Building. 

“Recognizing the importance of the struggle for racial equity and justice, the City Council of the City of Boulder commits itself to promoting racial equity.”

Finally, Joseph added that although the city has made “great strides,” there is still a long way to go. 

For recent CU Boulder graduate and soon-to-be CU Boulder law student, Jemil Kassahun, the official recognition of Juneteenth reflects a similar sentiment. 

“It’s an interesting point that it took this long because it alludes to the fact that a lot of Americans in this country are still either unwilling or afraid to fully be immersed, learn and try to understand this country’s original sin, which is slavery,” Kassahun said. 

Kassahun’s parents immigrated to the United States from Ethiopia in the ‘90s. For Kassahun, although he does not have ancestral ties to enslaved Africans in the U.S., Juneteenth allows space for him to stand in solidarity with Black Americans who are descendents of enslaved Africans, he said. 

In Kassahun’s experience, it has often only been in conversations with Black Americans that can differentiate him between an African-American of an immigrated family or a Black American with ancestral ties to enslaved Africans. Due to people from other cultures not being able to differentiate the two, Kassahun described what it’s like for people to have a monolithic view of Blackness in America. 

“I’ve always seen myself as a Black man and my parents realized, to a large extent, the oppression that Black people in this country go through,” Kassahun said. “For a long time they tried to shield us in one way or another from, in terms of how to dress or how to present ourselves.” Adding that for the longest time, they didn’t want Kassahun to get a fade— a type of haircut. 

Kassahun also mentioned the harm that microaggressions and implicit racism can cause to Black people in America. Despite others not having the intention of being racist, the impact can still be negative.

“It’s like unless [someone] says the n-word, they’re not racist,” Kassahun said, describing from his personal experience how some people do not see racism unless it’s overt.