Juneteenth flag to fly through end of the month; the march goes on

By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news

On the warm bright morning of Tuesday, June 11, around 50 people gathered on the lawn by Churchill Hall at Southern Oregon University for a Juneteenth celebration.

“I have so much pride and joy in my heart and the first thing I think about is resilience,” said Ashland City Councilor Gina DuQuenne. 

DuQuenne took the microphone first as one of several selected to say a few words about the holiday honoring the belated enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation. 

Juneteenth celebrations owe some gratitude to the resilience of Ms. Opal Lee, a woman who walked hundreds of miles at “89 years young,” in order to obtain 1.5 million signatures and formally establish Juneteenth as a national holiday, DuQuenne said. Lee is 96 and “she’s not stopping.” Black people are resilient, DuQuenne said. 

As she reflected on the moment her ancestors were informed of their freedom by Union soldiers arriving in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, she encouraged the audience to walk away from the day’s celebration carrying freedom and emancipation with them as a thought. 

“Freedom my friends, was not free. … Let’s work on systemic kindness,” she said. 

Vaun Monroe, assistant professor for the school’s Digital Media program, took the podium as keynote speaker for the event. After a brief reminiscence of the Juneteenth celebrations of his childhood and the picnics with red velvet cupcakes that color those memories, Monroe focused on the connection between equality, equity and learning. 

Severe punishments were doled out to slaves who attempted to learn to read and write and to any free Americans who attempted to teach them. Retribution could come as harsh as 30 lashes and prison time, he said. The reason to impose such heavy sanctions on learning was simple. 

“If you’re going to hoodwink people, it is better for you to not let them be able to think,” he said. 

The celebration of Juneteenth occurs because emancipation was not enforced in states held by the Confederacy until more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863. Those two extra years of free labor were gained by keeping slaves from knowledge, Monroe said. 

SOU President Rick Bailey said that once the Juneteenth flag was raised it would remain flying for the rest of the month as not only an honor and remembrance but a “value we all hold dear.” 

He “could not leave the stage” without two quotes, he said. The first he identified as his favorite quote of all time, said by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

“‘The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice,’” Bailey said, quoting King, and adding, “It doesn’t bend by itself.” 

Bailey also recited the words of Andrew Young, “To whom much is given, much is required.” He encouraged the crowd to consider what is required of them with what power and voice they may have to do the work of “bending the arc.” 

After the speakers had finished, the crowd stood at their chairs and around the lawn under the trees listening to “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” often referred to as “The Black National Anthem.”

Four ROTC cadets then marched solemnly down the path to the flagpoles, one carrying in her arms the Juneteenth flag folded into a triangle. The Oregon flag was lowered, the Junteenth flag attached to the cable, and as cadets pulled the cable a breeze caught the Juneteenth flag and unfurled it in bright red and blue. 

Speaking with reporters after the ceremony, Monroe looked up at the trees and pursed his lips thoughtfully when asked to speak to what Juneteenth means to him. 

“My sons are 6 and 9. If I had a nice master, my youngest probably wouldn’t be working in the field. My oldest definitely would be,” Monroe said.

He said he was proud to work at SOU, a public liberal arts university offering an education focused on critical thinking accessible for first generation and lower income students who would not have historically had access to the advantage of learning. He said he hoped to see an improvement in the way Americans learn about civics and history and understand what he referred to as “the unfairness baked into our system,” and an idea that those who have not achieved are simply not working hard enough or are unable to. 

He referenced recent scholarship estimating $600 billion in funds that were earned by but not enjoyed by African Americans. He also encouraged those curious about equity and African American history to read the work of Sandy Darity making a case for the fairness of reparations. 

After the ceremonies concluded, attendees gathered in the shade to talk and enjoy lemonade and red velvet cupcakes. 

Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at morganr@ashland.news.