Juneteenth celebrations planned for Friday, Saturday in Las Cruces
LAS CRUCES – Juneteenth is Saturday, June 19, and both the City of Las Cruces and New Mexico State University have celebrations planned to honor African American Emancipation Day.
Juneteenth commemorates when African Americans enslaved in Texas learned on June 19, 1865, that President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, ending slavery, two years before. It is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.
The day has been a New Mexico state holiday since 2006.
Virtual jazz festival
The Branigan Cultural Center will host a virtual jazz festival and celebration of Juneteenth over the weekend. Guests are invited to immerse themselves in a diversity of jazz ensembles, get active in workshops and learn from speakers on jazz and Juneteenth. The events will take place fully online and can be accessed at: https://rebrand.ly/JuneteenthJazz:
Friday, June 18
- 3 p.m.: Opening featuring Bobbie Green, president of Doña Ana County NAACP
- 3:30 to 5 p.m.: Jazz ensembles
- 5:30 p.m.: Juneteenth history and Black movements roundtable
- 7:30 p.m.: Open mic jam
Saturday, June 19
- 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Activity kit pick-up
Kit pick-up will be outside the Branigan Cultural Center courtyard at the Main Street entrance. The kits will be given out on a first-come-first-serve basis. Kits will contain an activity for youth and information on artists in the festival and Juneteenth history.
- 10 to 11 a.m.: Jazz ensembles
- 11 a.m.: Rhythm and drumming workshop with Derrick Lee
- 12:30 p.m.: Jazz ensemble
- 2 p.m.: Nat Reeves keynote
- 4 p.m.: Improv workshop with Julian Alexander
- 6 p.m.: Warren Wolf jazz performance
- 6:30 p.m.: Closing circle
Event at NMSU
NMSU is holding a public celebration at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Presley Askew Baseball Field on the Las Cruces campus, 1815 Wells St.
The event was organized by the Black Student Association in collaboration with NMSU Black Programs and the Associated Students of NMSU. Several guest speakers, live music, poetry performances and a candlelight vigil are all on the agenda.
“It’s just been a tumultuous year, not only with COVID, but with racial tensions, and we want people to exhale for a minute,” said Kimberly York, interim director of NMSU Black Programs. “This is an opportunity for us to sit back and reflect on the true value of life and celebrate the rich history of African Americans in our country.”
“Preservation of one’s own culture does not require disrespect or contempt of other cultures,” York added, quoting the celebrated labor activist César Chávez.
This year’s theme — “Educate. Liberate. Commemorate.” — exemplifies the organizers’ desire to pay homage to previous generations of Black leaders and activists who fought to overcome racial injustices while emphasizing the need to carry on the movement to achieve greater equality.
“We want to continue to educate people about the challenges that remain in our community, city, state and country regarding racism,” York said.
The event will feature live music from the Las Cruces band Fanny Pack Bradas and a rendition of the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” by Las Cruces native Janice Jones.
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York said the candlelight vigil will commemorate the historic end of slavery, the many Black lives lost to racial injustice and the millions of people worldwide who have died as a result of COVID-19, a disease that has disproportionally impacted communities of color. Attendees should bring flameless candles, she added.
York said participants should view the celebration as a moment of self-reflection.
“We want everybody to walk away and have some sense of personal conviction about what they can do,” she said. “I start with myself first. What can I do to be a better human and help people understand the lived experiences of people who are not like them? Where do we need to go as a human race? How do we remember those who have fought and positioned us to move progressively forward?”
This year’s event follows a year of tumult and protests over the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other victims of police violence. At the height of the turmoil, Black Programs and the Black Student Association organized one of the most visible on-campus Juneteenth celebrations in NMSU history, an event that drew a diverse crowd of several hundred participants.
The 2020 event catalyzed deep conversations about systemic racism and the push to attain greater diversity and inclusion, specifically in the recruitment of students of color. It also spurred a year of online forums dedicated to driving the movement beyond the protests.
“Even though slavery ended in 1865, the struggle ensues in many ways,” York said. “I think the untimely and unfortunate murder of George Floyd had a captive audience because of COVID. But this has been a lifelong lived experience for so many of our Black men, women and children.”
York described the aftermath of the 2020 protests as “bittersweet.” She noted the historic election of Kamala Harris as vice president of the United States last year as a barrier-breaking achievement for women, African Americans and Asian Americans.
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“For me, that revitalized my spirit and faith in America. But there’s still much more work to do,” she said. “We have to begin to shed light on systemic racism when it happens – and not just in the Black community. We know our fellow Asians and LGBT friends are under attack, and it is heartbreaking. We see so many immigrants are struggling and suffering. We want people to see Juneteenth as an opportunity to take the time to understand each other’s lived experiences because, at the end of the day, we’re all human.”
For information about NMSU’s Juneteenth celebration, visit https://blackprograms.nmsu.edu/events/upcoming_events.html. This year’s event will be live-streamed on Zoom at https://nmsu.zoom.us/j/96730863175 (Meeting ID: 967 3086 3175; Passcode: NMSUBSA).
Fully vaccinated people are not required to wear face masks during the event.