Speaker 1: Top Ink Club Park.
Speaker 2: June teen celebrations are kicking off across the country. You're
looking at Galveston, Texas, the place where the last enslaved
people in the country learned they were free, more than
two years after the emancipation proclamation. Now celebrations will be
kicking off across the country, but organizers teal ABC News
President Trump's push against DEI policies has led some cities
to scale back festivities this year. Darren Anderson, CEO of
the Urban League of Greater Philadelphia, has more on the
June teenth holiday. Darren, thanks for being here. I want
to start things off with just the basics. Can you
walk us through the history behind June teenth and these celebrations.
Speaker 1: As a native text and Juneteenth is a jubilee. It
is a celebration of black culture, of black heritage.
Speaker 3: It came to be in eighteen sixty five in June
is when slaves were told by Union soldiers that they
had been free, which is six months after the sign
of the thirteenth Amendment and as well as about two
years after the emancipation proclamation.
Speaker 2: Now you lead the Urban League of Greater Philadelphia, So
what are the juneteen celebrations going to be like there.
Speaker 1: Today, celebrations all across the city, festivities. There's an opportunity
for us to engage with food, to with culture of individuals.
It's an opportunity for us to reflect back on the
long history of how Africans have impacted this country and
how Black culture have shaped and has imperatives that have
been important with the shaping and with the understanding of
who we are and who we are as a country now.
Speaker 2: Or organizers at some of these events say some cities
are scaling back this year due to the Trump administrations
push against DEI policies or certain DEE policies. What's your
take on that. Have you seen that.
Speaker 1: Seen and certainly not here in Philadelphia where the Liberty
Bill stands. This is about freedom and what June teenth
is about independence, It's about Black Americans, is about black
culture and the black Black heritage. So we stand firm
in our mission, we stand firm in our purpose, and
we stand firm in the importance of celebrating who we are.
Speaker 2: So what's the appropriate way to celebrate Juneteenth? Is this
something that is reserved for black people in African Americans
in the United States? Or should white people get involved
to walk us through that part of it.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. I mean Juneteenth is as celebration of when blacks
was learned that enslaved individuals were free. However, it's a
celebration for all cultures. African American history is American history.
The significant input that we had in this country should
be celebrated by all. We should come together have this conversation.
How does doll log continue to be open with London
under and to have a better understanding. This is about diversity,
This is about it echoly and this is also about
inclusion and it's bringing everyone together so we can have
a form of battleship.
Speaker 2: So what are some of your favorite ways to celebrate
Juneteenth and some of the favorite ways you suggest celebrating Juneteenth.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, as a Texan, I've been celebrating this
since birth. I'm fifty years of age and it's been
all the time, every day since eighteen sixty six. In Texas,
we have been celebrating this starting in Galveston, Texas. So
we're going to have food, We're going to have book readings,
We're going to have celebrities that's going to come in
to the city. We're going to celebrate music. We're going
to celebrate who we are in the totality, but we
want to celebrate ourselves with the understanding that we are
a part of American history and we should be celebrated
as such.
Speaker 2: All right, Taron Anderson, CEO of the Urban League of
Greater Philadelphia, thank you and happy junteenth to you.
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me