In an effort to further recognize Juneteenth and its significance, the Honolulu City Council recently adopted a resolution that urges city and state leaders to make it an official state holiday. The resolution is another initiative by community leaders to honor and educate more people about June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers told enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, of their freedom, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. While there is community support for this effort, leaders say there still needs to be more done to continue pushing for social justice and racial equality.

“It really clues a lot of people in to the fact that racial disparity and racial inequity is not a problem of the past. It’s something we’re still facing,” said Samantha Neyland, the first Black Miss Hawaii USA and founder of Hawaii for Juneteenth. “Any time we learn about our history accurately … it helps to explain the problems of today. It also helps to educate our younger generations on our history and how they can go about changing it today to make our future more equal and inclusive for everyone.”

After adoption, the resolution, which is nonbinding and doesn’t mandate the change, is sent to city and state leaders for consideration.

In June, Gov. David Ige declared June 19 as a day of reflection in Hawaii. President Joe Biden also signed a bill into law in June to recognize Juneteenth as a federal holiday, the newest one since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established in 1983. Last year, the City Council adopted a resolution that recognizes every June 19 as Juneteenth.

“I believe that the next logical step is for the state and city governments to formally recognize Juneteenth as a local holiday as well,” said Council Chairman Tommy Waters in a statement. “Black Americans have a deep history in Hawaii and have made incredible contributions as part of our community … I believe this day ought to be marked by one of reflection and betterment across the nation — including here in Hawaii.”

Although African Americans make up about 3% of Hawaii’s population, they filed an average of nearly 30% of race-related employment discrimination complaints from 2008 to 2018, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. The effort also comes at a time when many are calling for police reform in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and Lindani Myeni.

Alphonso Braggs, president of the NAACP in Hawaii, said the African American community has celebrated Juneteenth every year, regardless if it’s a paid holiday or not. There is support for Juneteenth to become an official holiday, but he said that recognition shouldn’t signify that racial disparities and injustices are rectified.

“I believe (recognizing Juneteenth as a state holiday) is something that is warranted with respect to cultural celebrations and honoring that,” he said. “The majority of African Americans understand Juneteenth. They also understand the full history, which is that while this is presumed the last of the slaves to get the message … it did not represent the end of slavery.”

Kathryn Waddell Takara, one of the first ethnic studies professors at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said recognition of Juneteenth as a state holiday would be another opportunity to educate people about the significant contributions made by African Americans locally and nationally.

Takara, who taught Black studies from 1971 until she retired in 2007, said when Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to the first state Legislature in 1959, it helped to spark a need for more inclusion, not only for Black people, but for everyone in Hawaii who experienced segregation. Better and more education about Black history and efforts to continue pushing for racial justice are crucial moving forward, she said.

“Hawaii has been in the vanguard in terms of diversity. But many African Americans would say that we are not included in that notion of diversity in terms of the contributions, historic and contemporary, that we have made to this society, particularly in the area of civil and human rights,” she said. “When I was teaching ethnic studies, I would always ask my students about stereotypes that they held. The darker the skin, the more negative the stereotypes. I think that still exists today. The opportunity to correct stereotypes is really important.”

———

Jayna Omaye covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national serv­ice organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under­covered issues and communities.