Mobilize to make Juneteenth more than just a holiday, Charlotte speaker urges
Around 400 people gathered in First Ward Park in Uptown Charlotte Friday evening to celebrate Juneteenth, the annual holiday recognizing the end of slavery in the United States.
Juneteenth commemorates the day when the last slaves in Texas and the Confederate South were freed in 1865 — more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. The rally, called “Breaking the Chains,” was organized by the NAACP’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg chapter, the ACLU, Sunrise Movement, Kidz Fed Up and Charlotte Reality Project.
The holiday, which is celebrated across the United States, holds special resonance this year as it coincides with the fourth week of protests in Charlotte over police brutality and the death of George Floyd. The signs in the crowd said “Black Lives Matter,” “Defund the Police” and “Arrest the officers who murdered Breonna Taylor.”
Corine Mack, president of Charlotte’s NAACP chapter, called on the crowd to mobilize and hold the city manager, chief of police and City Council accountable.
“We’re asking this not to be a two-day event, a three week event … but to be a life work, so that all children, specifically Black children, don’t have to live in fear of police ever again,” Mack said.
ACLU organizer Kristie Puckett Williams got a cheer from the audience when she mentioned the ruling by a Mecklenburg judge to temporarily restrict police from using tactics similar to those used on 4th Street on June 2. The decision was made after a three-hour emergency hearing at the Mecklenburg County Courthouse ahead of the Juneteenth celebrations.
Speakers also recited poems and shared stories — some planned, others impromptu. Then Mack led the crowd in singing “I Need You To Survive” by Hezekiah Walker.
Then around 8 p.m., the crowd began to march through Uptown Charlotte with minimal police presence.
Protesters stopped at the “Black Lives Mural” on Tryon Street and gathered around Mack and other organizers. Then the crowd moved to Romare Bearden Park, where meals of fried chicken and mac and cheese were passed out by a local church.
Then, Mack read George Floyd’s last words out loud over a speaker. Floyd was killed in Minnesota after a police officer pressed a knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
At the end of the rally around 9:40 p.m. the crowd of 200 to 300 people knelt in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds.
“We love you all. Please get home safely. God bless you,” Mack said before the crowd dispersed.
This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 9:03 PM.
