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Bay Area Celebrates 1st Juneteenth Since Becoming Federal Holiday

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) – Juneteenth celebrations are being held across the Bay Area, the first time since the day commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S. was declared a federal holiday.

Dave Peters is the Founder and Executive Director of the West Oakland Cultural Action Network.

"Some people don't think Juneteenth is America's story. They think it's solely a Black story, this is the story of all of America," Peters said.

Peters says when he first heard the news that Congress passed a bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, he says he was shocked.

"It was overwhelming," Peters said.

Juneteenth celebrates June 19th 1865, two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln and two months after the end of the Civil War when union soldiers finally made it to Galveston, Texas to tell enslaved people they were free.

"Think about that. For more than two years, enslaved people of Texas were kept in servitude," Vice President Kamala Harris said after President Joe Biden signed the bill into law.

Oakland will be throwing a barbecue celebration Saturday, but Peters also organized a self-guided audio walking tour of Oakland.

Oakland Juneteenth celebration
Oakland Juneteenth celebration (CBS)

The tour begins at St. Augustine's Church where The Black panthers gathered for meetings and ends at the historic California Hotel that was once segregated but allowed black musicians to perform there.

"I am conflicted about calling it a celebration, a celebratory holiday. I think it needs to be a commemoration," said Dana King, a former KPIX 5 anchor.

King, who is now a sculptor, was commissioned to create an art installation around the site of the former statue of slaveholder Francis Scott Key, most famous for writing the Star Spangled Banner.

Juneteenth Dana King Sculpture
Former KPIX 5 anchor and sculptor Dana King stands in front of her art installation at Golden Gate Park commemorating the first slaves brought to the U.S. (CBS)

The statue was toppled by protesters in the summer of 2020.

King said the 350 sculptures to represent the first 350 slaves who were brought to this country on that first ship, 25 survived. The installation will be here for two years.

"This is a monumental reckoning in name and philosophy," King said.

"Things will never change unless those who are not affected are as outraged as those who are affected," said author Wil Shelton.

Shelton released his book titled "The Silent Agreement" on Juneteenth, which coaches Black men and women on rising the ranks in corporate America.

He told KPIX 5 that Juneteenth likely wouldn't have been recognized as a federal holiday if it weren't for the murder of George Floyd and the summer of demonstrations that followed.

"We were all in the same valley of suffering together, the sand was shifting underneath all of us at the same time," Shelton said.

He's happy to see White America recognizing this day and hopes people will take time for celebration and education.

"They can take the time to figure out what this day means to us and how they can support it," Shelton said.

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