Sounds of music, laughter and joy abounded at Berkeley’s 36th Juneteenth Festival on Sunday. The festival commemorates June 19, 1865 the day the last of American enslaved people were declared free in Galveston, Texas, more than two years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
Speakers gathered over Zoom at the “State of Black Berkeley” event on Feb. 20.
The annual gathering of activists at the “State of Black Berkeley” on Saturday looked different in 2021 than in past years. Attendees greeted each other over Zoom and asked questions or sent compliments in the chatbox, rather than raising hands or applauding in person. Still, with rousing music and a dance break to intersperse impassioned speeches and calls to action, the spirit of the event was unchanged.
The 17 speakers covered a wide range of topics, like how to build community as Berkeley’s Black population continues to shrink; education equity and student support at Berkeley High; police reform and mental health services; equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine; celebrating and protecting Black history and culture, including the statue of a local Black legislator which was vandalized this year; and reparations for the economic losses caused by systemic racism.