Rep. Kilmer on Celebrating Juneteenth

Okay. Okay. Okay. Hey Hey everybody. everybody. everybody. Derek Derek Kilmer here I am am joined joined by by. one one of of my my favorite. favorite favorite leaders leaders in. in in our our region. region. Toan Nobels Nobels the the President President of. of of Tacoma's Tacoma's Urban Urban Urban. League. League. Thank Thank you you for for being with me You you are are are. welcome. welcome. Thanks. thanks for for having having me me happy. Happy Happy Juneteenth. Thank you and and to to you. you and and we're. we're we're here here today today. today to to talk talk about today actually actually, June June nineteenth nineteenth. nineteenth or or June June tenth. tenth tenth. you you know know really, I think it's it's a a day day that. that a a lot lot of of folks folks. around around our our country. country country are are just starting to to understand understand and. and and hear hear about about which which. is is a a shame. shame. but. But but what. what I also think. Of an opportunity so maybe start off and tell folks who are watching who may not have a great understanding of June Juneteenth tell folks a little bit exactly what Juneteenth is commemorating in the history behind it. Yeah. So Juneteenth is actually a very exciting opportunity to celebrate so Juneteenth and it is June and nineteenth together in case anyone is wondering what what is Juneteenth? So it's just June and nineteenth because June nineteenth I think 1860 - five is is when when the the message The last few slaves down in Galveston, Texas that slavery had ended due to the Emancipation proclamation and I like to say we were free is because immediately following was you know segregation and you know silver rights movement and leading us to today and the freedom that we continue to fight for but this is the day that in our community we celebrate emancipation and it's significant also. It helps us to remember that even though the Emancipation proclamation was passed two years prior, we don't celebrate until we are all free. so we are not free until we are all free so until the final area and last bit of slaves receive that information, it was not appropriate to begin celebrating and once that happened that date June nineteenth was selected as a day to celebrate IE. And to your point of today's the hundred and 50 fifth anniversary of that day and I'm I was struck in your answer you You use the free celebrate a few times. so I know there's some questions about in the present area. Is it a day of celebration? Is it more of a solemn day? So how do people really honored Juneteenth? Yeah and I would say Juneteenth definitely is a time to honor history to talk about you know, black culture and where we've come from to Do Hard reflection and say we still have more work to do we're not done but we ought to take a moment for Jubilee for celebration to acknowledge all of the hard work our ancestors went through to provide the freedoms that we do have today so I I'd like to be clear. we're not done yet we definitely spend time reflecting on the continued continued you you know. know disproportionate disproportionate. disproportionate impacts impacts the the race. racism racism that that continues in our our country country. the The the systems systems that. that that continue continue to to not. not not work work for for our community but. but great. Been done by many of those who've come before us and so yeah, I know for a lot of people across the country while there are many protests still happening a lot of folks in our community have been clear that this is the day to remember our culture to celebrate to eat great cultural food to be together social distancing with Mass but to honor and reflect and think about the history and I think for folks who are not black or not connected to our culture. It's a. Great opportunity to read to watch film but to figure out what what they learn about Juneteenth and the history of black folks in America. Well you just touched on you know one of the things I wanted to ask you. I know that both this afternoon and this evening there are events all over our region to commemorate this day. I'll be at one in Tacoma. this afternoon and then at another one in Bremerton at this evening also socially distancing and wearing a mask. Doing what you advised so give guidance to if people wanna celebrate or honor this day. Do you have any recommendations for how people can do that in our region and help people can really honor this day-I do and what's really important is everyone is not ready or comfortable being in groups so if folks visit I don't know if your team can drop links in the comments so we can post them later, but if folks go to Urban League dot Org, Seattle Urban League in a. Black collective have put together a series of virtual Juneteenth events lots of cultural events that folks can participate in from home, but we also on our Tacoma Urban League Facebook page and Twitter so Urban League on Twitter the Tacoma Urban League on Facebook. We have a link where you can find area events and Juneteenth events or area protests that we continue to circulate. so there are some really good resources if you wanna be out in the community cuz it's a beautiful. There or if you want to learn and celebrate from home, awesome well, you mentioned the amazing work that the Tacoma Urban League and and you mentioned the work that still needs to be done to deal with injustice in our country and to deal with inequities in our country and I'm I wanna recognize you and in the Urban League for the extraordinary work you do in that regard. so thank you for that. Thank you. Thank you. I do wanna also just mentioned. I think you know you've really. Highlighted why this is an important day I've actually cosponsored a bill it's called the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. it was introduced by my colleague. Sheila Jackson Lee to create a federal holiday to recognize and celebrate and commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States on June nineteenth permanently and I'm hopeful that we can see that become law. Yeah, that's incredible work. Thank you for that. my staff is off today. I know we kinda spoke spoke a a little little bit bit about. about about how how folks folks celebrate celebrate. celebrate Juneteenth Juneteenth, but. but it it has has been been exciting. exciting to see. More employers give their employees the day off to recognize it as a as a holiday. I do wanna see that bill passed cuz this is this is the time for us to pause to reflect to continue asking the hard questions but to celebrate what a beautiful people we are toan Nobels. Thank you so much for taking a few minutes to share your thoughts and insights with the folks who are listening, I really appreciate it and I appreciate what you do for our community and for our region and certainly proud to be your partner. Okay, folks. Thank you so much for tuning in take care. I'll see you soon. Bye bye.