The NAACP Vancouver will host its annual Juneteenth Celebration on Saturday, June 20th, from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm via a virtual meeting. This event is open to everyone interested in helping to end racism and racial discrimination.
Clark County Sheriff, Chuck Atkins, will participate in a moderated discussion surrounding racial justice.
This year’s celebration’s theme, “We Are Done Dying”, connects with a national NAACP campaign designed to expose and end the inequities embedded into our country at large. The campaign calls for policy changes in the areas of criminal justice, economics, health, and voting to eliminate systematic racism and the death and disenfranchisement of African Americans.
Juneteenth, (the term is a melding of “June” and “19th”) memorizes the freeing of slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston with about 2000 Union troops two years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Celebrations have become widespread in recent decades, and most states have recognized the holiday in some fashion.
Typically a day-long community-wide event held at Clark College, this year’s event has been modified to a virtual format due to COVID-19.
Registration is required. To register for the event and obtain viewing information, go to www.naacpvancouverwa.org.