The Three Rivers City Commission will convene for a regular meeting tonight June 6 at 6 p.m at Three Rivers City Hall. Here’s what to expect and how you can participate.
Juneteenth
In bipartisan fashion, the state Senate on Wednesday approved legislation to make Juneteenth, a holiday widely celebrated by Black Americans for years, an official holiday in Michigan.
A poem by Torrey Brown titled “June 19th, 1865” about Juneteenth: Freedom Day.
WSV Columnist Amy East writes, “In researching my own genealogy, I’ve found a number of ancestors who fought for the idea that all men were created equal in the American Revolution, and some that owned slaves. The movement of my ancestors to Cass County was very near to the time the Potawatomi were forcibly removed. Were they involved? I don’t know. Did they benefit? Without a doubt. But just because this knowledge might make me uncomfortable, or challenge how I’d like to see myself, it doesn’t mean it’s wrong. When you ask ‘what did you learn that you didn’t know before?’ you don’t get to choose if that knowledge aligns with your worldview. That’s the cost of curiosity, my friend.”
Using nooses as an intimidation tactic would be banned and third-party sales of appointments at Secretary of State offices would be banned under bills recently introduced in the Michigan Legislature.
Michigan Advance’s Jarvis DeBerry writes, “(Republican lawmakers) don’t think officially recognizing June 19, 1865, the day Black people in Texas learned of their freedom, costs them anything or that it benefits Black people enough for them to get worked up about. Acknowledging Juneteenth definitely doesn’t mean as much as police reform, voting rights, a higher minimum wage, Medicaid expansion or other policies that Black people have been demanding.”
The City of Three Rivers saw its first-ever Juneteenth celebration Friday at The Huss Project, as widespread awareness of the holiday has grown in recent weeks with a resurgence in racial justice movements. The event drew approximately 90 people.
Watershed Voice recently spoke with Yolonda Lavender, singer/songwriter, curator, composer, arranger, and performing artist from Kalamazoo, who also happens to be the “Juneteenth Celebration of Freedom” event organizer.
A Bridge to Understanding is a community building podcast featuring two friends with very different backgrounds. This podcast seeks to discuss topics that will lead to a better understanding between people who may look different, think different, or have different access to the American Dream. The show offers to bring light into the dark, and often under-discussed topics that shape the American landscape today.
On this special summer episode, Malachi Carter meets up with friends Camara Wallace, Nayela Chowdhury, and Sarah Diviney at the 2019 Indy Juneteenth Celebration on Indianapolis’ west side. They, being the most unlikely bunch at this event (black, biracial, Bangladeshis, and white), discuss the complex joys of this holiday.