Juneteenth is personal for Pastor Ronnie Brooks.
His grandfather, Young Edgar Brooks, was among the enslaved people freed in 1865. He migrated to Decatur, Texas, where he eventually ran a corner store and opened the city’s first Black church. He lived to be 106.
On Thursday afternoon, Ronnie Brooks, pastor of To God Be the Glory Church in northeast Salem, led a crowd of dozens in prayer at a Juneteenth block party downtown.
“We think back of what all of those slaves had to go through, all of the different beatings and all of the different work without pay,” he said. “But yet and still, Father God, you blessed them that they were able to make it through. And so, Father, we just want to pause on this day to say thank you.”
Juneteenth commemorates the day enslaved people in Galveston Bay, Texas, were freed. The news came to them on June 19, 1865, over two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
The crowd was buzzing on Southeast Cottage Street. People enjoyed hot dogs and Maine lobster, stopped by dozens of vendors and, at times, broke into dance.
Many of the vendors were Black-owned businesses and organizations, including Berrien Concrete, Havenrose Real Estate, the Urban League of Portland and the African American Caucus of the local Service Employees International Union.
People could also take home plants from the Black Joy Farm in Keizer, a community garden for people experiencing food insecurity.
The event was hosted by the Salem-Keizer NAACP and BIPOCS Living in Salem, using the acronym to refer to Black, Indigenous and People of Color.
The crowd gathered as a young woman introduced as Felicia sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” known as the Black national anthem, followed by “Rise Up” by Andra Day.
Ray White, board president of the BE-BLAC Foundation and leader of the coaching program Inclusive Leadership By Design, told the audience that his 16 years in Oregon has taught him that he belongs.
“Even if the history says otherwise, even if chaos continues to rise among us, I have community,” he said. “I hope that as you are walking up and down these streets, as you look into your left and to your right, into the people here, you feel you belong too.”
White encouraged people to build on every aspect of the community they touch, from the classroom to the courtroom.
“We have power, and we have capability to make movements in strides that can move mountains. But you have to believe it. I have to believe it,” he said. “Let’s build upon what we got. Let’s continue to share our dollars and build up our economy so we can thrive in Salem-Keizer.”
He suggested creating Salem’s own Greenwood District – a hub known as “Black Wall Street,” developed in segregated Tulsa, Oklahoma in the early 1900s – on the block where the crowd had gathered. “Why not?” he said emphatically, to cheers and applause. “We can do it together.”
RJ Hampton, president of the local NAACP chapter, said Juneteenth represents the promise of freedom that many enslaved people who died on plantations didn’t have the opportunity to regain.
“Believe it or not, on the plantation, there were still smiles and laughs and Black joy, because we understood what we were getting back to, what we were headed to and what we were returning from, coming full circle,” he said. “We taught humans to be more humane in the conditions that we live.”
Hampton challenged the audience “not to lean on the pain and the negatives that we went through.” Before Black people were ever enslaved, he said, they had money, knowledge, schools and economics.
“We had a Black Wall Street before there was ever a Wall Street,” he said. “When we say we want to return to our roots, we want to return our roots to our youth so that they can keep watering, planting and growing and going so that one day, we can stand together, look together, rise together, be together and truly be that unified one.”
After the speakers concluded, soul and hip-hop musician Rich McCloud took the stage.
Erin Rodriguez told Salem Reporter that her family has celebrated Juneteenth since before it became a federal holiday in 2021.
Rodriguez is Black, Mexican and Irish. She said she wanted to expose her younger children, who are also Swiss and German, to Black culture.
She said she was amazed by how much the block party’s turnout had grown since last year and was encouraged to see so many people who care about Black culture and diversity.
Olivia Ewell told Salem Reporter that she saw the event as an opportunity to connect with people for “a moment of Black joy.”
“When we talk about Black people, often, we talk about just the struggles and the hardships Black people have had to overcome,” she said. But on Juneteenth, she said, “We get to celebrate our growth and our success.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated the singer’s name. Salem Reporter apologizes for the error.
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered the justice system and public safety for Salem Reporter since September 2021. As an Oregon native, his award-winning watchdog journalism has traversed the state. He has done reporting for The Oregonian, Eugene Weekly and Malheur Enterprise.
