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San Mateo County Supervisor Lisa Gauthier, along with a panel of speakers, addressed a crowd during the Juneteenth flag raising ceremony at County Courtyard in Redwood City on Wednesday morning.
This annual event centered around spreading awareness about the holiday’s history and articulating its legacy. June 19 marks the effective end of slavery in the United States, when Union forces informed enslaved populations in Galveston, Texas, about their new legal freedom two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
In her opening remarks, Gauthier emphasized her responsibility of ensuring an equitable future for San Mateo County residents, and the role of celebrations like Wednesday’s in that mission.
“Today we celebrate strength, culture and community,” Gauthier said. “Juneteenth represents the resilience, spirit and unwavering fight for freedom.”
Gauthier’s message of an enduring commitment to freedom and justice for Black Americans echoed in Menlo Park City councilmember Cecilia Taylor’s speech as well.
For Taylor, “Juneteenth is about educating all, agitating with love and celebrating with humility.”
She urged the audience to engage deeply with the history of Juneteenth and the stories of those who worked toward its federal recognition as a holiday.
Looking to the past was an important theme across the speakers. Advocate and healer Adeshina Shindara, led a libations ceremony as a reminder to recognize those who came before.
“This beautiful ceremony of libation involves invoking the energy, the spirit of our ancestors, those whose shoulders we stand upon and who have paved the way for our success as Black people,” Shindara said. “We say their names, we keep them alive [and] we keep them present in our hearts…”
Gauthier held a small potted plant in which Shindara poured water as the audience and speakers called names of their ancestors in an act of remembrance and to give thanks.
Tochi Ibeanusi, a member of the Bay Area Community Health Advisory Council’s Youth Advisory Board, also spoke about the importance of honoring the past.
“Juneteenth means celebrating us, our culture, creativity, our resilience,” Ibeanusi said. “It’s a time to honor the ancestors who made our existence possible. The contributions we as African Americans have made to not only this country, but this state, county and to our local communities deserve to be celebrated.”
Another member of the Youth Advisory Board, Tatiola Sobomehin, spoke of the joy that Juneteenth represents through her childhood memories of celebrating the holiday in her neighborhood. However, Sobomehin also reiterated that the pursuit of freedom and equity is ongoing.
“Juneteenth represents how far we’ve come, but it reminds us how far we still need to go,” she said. “As it feels harder and harder to advocate for our community … We still remember this day. We still come together to remember. We still teach our youth, and it’s truly important and influential to do so. I hope we will continue to do it each year, despite the powers that rise against us…”
The final speaker was Jacob Virges, a local spoken word poet, who performed two pieces one about Juneteenth and another titled “What About My Dreams?” His poetry described the systemic horrors enslaved people faced in the United States, and how such systems evolved.
In light of political uncertainty that Sobomehin mentioned and the persistence of injustice explored in Virges’ poems, Youth Advisory Board member Ibeanusi felt optimistic about the change possible by empowering young people.
“Once everyone finds that place where they can foster shared passion, then that’s exactly how change happens, and how you start something bigger than yourself,” she said after the ceremonies.
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