Milwaukee’s Juneteenth Celebration Ends Peacefully!!!
Since the 70′s, Milwaukee residents have celebrated this semi-national holiday that only 36 States (if you include DC) recognize but just recently Gov. Jim Doyle (of WI) signed a bill officially recognizing June 19 as Juneteenth Day. Of course, YOU know that Juneteenth takes place on June 19th of every year to acknowledge and appreciate the ending of the enslavement of African Americans. But I didn’t walk around with a camera asking people, “What is Juneteenth” because I didn’t wanna embarrass anyone. Despite the fact that this is one of the most relevant holidays to black folk, there are still a lot of people who aren’t as familiar with the history behind it as they are the actual celebration. Which is probably why it always ended with acts of violence in Milwaukee between patrons or patrons and police ever since I known this event to take place.
In my opinion, a lot of people have lost sight of the actual meaning and get caught up in the vendors and festivities so every year you will have a large group of people saying they’re not attending because of fear of violence. Its not taboo, when large amounts of black people get together, we tend to get violent with one another so I don’t fault people for coming early and getting out before the bad ass kids come. But the fact that only 36 states acknowledge the holiday says a lot. It is our responsibility to teach our kids what the schools won’t. If we don’t they’ll have to find out on their own and until then they just don’t know.
But peep this, I went down there and while I was there all i saw was family, friends, and food. I actually felt free. I didn’t stay til te end but I wasn’t surprised to hear it ended better than it had the previous years. I’m sure the strong presence of Milwaukee Police had alot to do with it. Either way, I’m grateful.
