welcome to hollywood! where an epic party is getting started. the stage at the historic greek theater will soon light up with an extraordinary list of musical talent all taking part in a global celebration for freedom. i am sara sidner. i am sitting next to my man van jones. he s here to celebrate juneteeth on cnn. we are so excited to be with you. this is america s newest federal holiday, commemorating the end, the true end of slavery in this country. folks heading to the greek theater, here in hollywood. and all of you at home are going to see an incredible concert with an amazing all-star lineup of black singers and songwriters. we re going to enjoy a show-stopping tribute to the queen of rock and roll, tina turner. we lost her this year. it was devastating for all of us. but you re going to see something you haven t seen before, y all. so stick around. actress chloe will give us her rendition of one of turner s greatest hits what s love got to do with it? she is going t
huge deal. well, any time you can be inspiring and be included in something that you feel is almost setting the precedent for things to come, definitely with this holiday and definitely just being a part of something this huge. i m curious, nelly, what is it that makes you feel free? hmm. um, i mean, you know, just being able to share the things that i ve been able to accomplish and things that i ve been able to come up with, with the ones you love. truly being free means inspiring and give hope to people and being able to provide for my family. that s all i need. that s beautiful. part of freedom, too, is being free from disease, just being free tomorrow healthy and strong. you re healthy and strong. you ve done so much work on bone marrow issues.
blockbuster concert that gets underway very soon. stay right here for the performances and the moving messages about why today s holiday matters so much for the black community, and really for all americans. there might not be a federal holiday marking the end of slavery in the u.s. if it were not for miss opal lee. van, you had the honor of speaking with her. she is known as the grandmother of juneteeth. she s 86 years old? she s actually i think 96. and she basically, she spent her entire life focused on making this holiday happen, making sure that this moment of black freedom and human freedom is recognized by everybody and she s actually brought her family into this fight. opal lee joins me now along with her granddaughter. miss opal lee, happy juneteeth! we are celebrating it now as a federal holiday for the third year in a row. have you gotten used to that yet? not really.
i still pinch myself to be sure it s the truth. well, it s the truth because you made it the truth. everybody calls you the grandmother of juneteeth because you spent decades working to make juneteeth a federal holiday. for the people who don t know, can you talk a little bit about how you did that? how did you help make this a federal holiday? oh, listen, i had, had children, four of them. i had taught school, third grade, 8-year-olds. i was beginning to act like them so they gave me another job. i had been responsible with others, started a food bank. i have what s called opal s farm. but i had this feeling that there was something else i should be doing. and, so, we gathered at my church, the minister, a school
freedom is about joy. freedom is about expression. freedom is about art. freedom is about music. f freedom is about what you re about to see on the stage tonight. we haven t even talked about franklin, swb. scratched the surface. i think one of the things when i think about this holiday is i think about what it was like to have been there at that time in galveston when you had this major general come in from the union army and give general order number three, which was that all slaves were free. imagine being that person who had not known for two and a half years. you stayed in enslavement for two and a half years longer. we just went through a pandemic i just want to put this in perspective. the pandemic for all purposes lasted about a couple of years. and we were losing our minds. we had trouble being by ourselves. we had trouble and these are real problems. these are real issues.