In celebration of Juneteenth, one group is joining dozens of planned marches to raise awareness to the needs of the black community in D.C., particularly police reform and evictions.
One DC has celebrated Juneteenth with its largely black membership for a decade, said Brook Hill, who spoke to WTOP on behalf of the group.
This year, he said the group will use the moment of heightened awareness of the injustices faced by African Americans to call for change from the D.C. Council to defund the police and “cancel the rent.”
“With so many of our members facing eviction and homelessness because of losses of income, and you know also, our members are working-class black folk, so they are often the people who are feeling the boot of MPD on their neck so to speak,” Hill said.
On Friday’s march, One DC members are meeting at Judiciary Square on Fourth Street NW at noon.
They will march by D.C. police headquarters and the Wilson Building, where the council meets. They will then join the Movement for Black Lives Juneteenth demonstration on the National Mall, along with many rallies and marches planned.
Don’t Mute DC, an organization that promotes keeping the cultural heritage, voices and music of the District alive, is one of the groups that also plans to march.
Go-go greats Big G from the Backyard Band and Sugar Bear from EU hosted a video shared on TikTok, announcing the group will have floats to lead a community walk at the corner of Florida and Georgia avenues Northwest at 3 p.m.
Juneteenth marks the day when, on June 19, 1865, a Union Army general read federal orders in Galveston, Texas, proclaiming that enslaved people were free, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.
You can find a list of Juneteenth events here.
More Juneteenth News
- Juneteenth: A day of joy and pain – and now national action
- AP Explains: Juneteenth marks day last enslaved people freed
- Friday is Juneteenth: Protests, rallies and events planned in DC, Md., Va.
- ‘Nobody’s free until everybody’s free’: What Juneteenth means amid a pandemic and protests
