Juneteenth: BLM Street Painting, Celebrations, Context

19 Jun 2020 by remysaverem

yellow painnt

Thank you to all those who commemorated the 155th anniversary of the delivery of the message to Texans that all slaves were freed, the holiday of Juneteenth, with this fabulous street painting action at the federal court house in Eugene.

(The above is a screen shot (rotated) from a video, not a link to a video.)

For those who are not familiar with the origin of the holiday and how and where it is formally recognized, this is a good starting place for some self-education.

https://nypost.com/article/what-is-juneteenth/

Significantly, 46 states and D.C. recognize Juneteenth, either as a state holiday (by legislation), or as a “ceremonial holiday” (by proclamation).

Oregon’s Governor Brown just tweeted, proclaiming Juneteenth as a holiday in Oregon and declaring intent that it become an official state holiday next year. Note that the Governor has “pinned” this Tweet, listing it as in reply to Pharrell Williams, winner of 13 Grammy awards and nominated for 2 Oscars, including as a co-producer of the film celebrating unsung black female heroines who helped enact travel to the moon, “Hidden Figures”:

brown juneteenth

The only holdouts are: Hawai’i, both North and South Dakota, and Montana. Here is the contact info for their governors.

https://governor.hawaii.gov/contact-us/general-contact-information/

https://www.governor.nd.gov/contact

https://governor.sd.gov/office/contact.aspx

https://governor.mt.gov/contact

Juneteenth is presently only a paid state holiday in Texas, but Virginia and New York are working toward that.

Interestingly, various corporations are holding events or specials for Juneteenth, including providing a paid holiday — and some (General Motors) are holding solemn events in homage to George Floyd and others resting in power after racist murders by police (8 minutes, 46 seconds of silence). The list is in the NY Post article above.

Locally, there are multiple celebrations.

juneteenth today