Commissioner Lissette Carey and Jimmy Weekley, Mayor Teri Johnston, Arida Wright, Pastor Denise McLeod, and Commissioners Clayton Lopez and Billy Wardlow. Commissioner Mary Lou Hoover and Vice Mayor Sam Kaufman were in attendance via Zoom.
Juneteenth Celebration
Commissioner Clayton Lopez, Mayor Teri Johnston, and the entire City Commission, during the June meeting, declared June 19th as Juneteenth Independence Day.
The proclamation was accepted by Pastor Denise McLeod and Arida Wright.
The celebration is in honor of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed enslaved Americans. The proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
In 1866, Black Americans began commemorating the signing with the Juneteenth Celebration.
Florida has commemorated Juneteenth since 1991, and in 2021 President Joe Biden signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, creating a federal.
“On May 18th, 2022,” reads the proclamation, “the City of Key West added Juneteenth as an official day of observance and celebrates the growth of the United States as an international symbol of democracy with freedom and justice for all.”
Wright invited the community to attend a special event at the Tropic Cinema on June 19th at 6 p.m.
“We’re showing the movie Freedom on my Mind,” she said. “It’s about Black voting rights. We encourage young people to come out and learn the importance of voting.”
She noted that the evening will include poetry readings and a performance by the St. James Youth Choir.
Pastor McLeod noted that City is hosting a ceremony at 9 a.m. on June 19th at the African Memorial Cemetery at Higgs Beach.
“Come celebrate our freedom,” she said.
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