PORTLAND, Maine — June 19 was the day news of emancipation finally reached enslaved people in Texas. The day became known as Juneteenth, and it has long been celebrated by the Black community, and now it is a state and national holiday.
Over the last year, we have seen people take to the streets across the country to protest police brutality in the wake of the deaths of unarmed Black men and women, but this weekend is not a time to protest, but to celebrate all that the Black community has been through.
"A lot of this is things that people are just now starting to understand because, you know, they're pages in our history that people didn't want to overturn," Bruce King with Maine Inside Out said.
He added that this last year has been an 'awakening' for people who may not know the history of slavery and injustice in America, and said that Maine is not exempt from having a dark past when it comes to slavery.
"Maine's wealth did have a strong connection to clearly the maritime economy and the maritime economy benefited incredibly from the Atlantic Slave Trade," he said. "It might not be the cleanest most comfortable holiday to reckon with but it absolutely one of the most important in our nation's history."
This weekend, Maine Inside Out is one of the groups co-hosting a three-day Juneteenth event in Portland organized by local artist Athena Lynch.
"Now that we are awake and now we're getting our bodies moving, the action is now taking place," she said.
This action is moving across the state and country regarding police reform, while also working to educate the next generation.
Lynch said the biggest event of the three days is Saturday in Congress Square Park and there will be a number of activities for people of all ages and backgrounds, including that next generation.
"[There will be] a youth-led activity this year because they are the future," she said.