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Speaker 1: Top Ink Club Park.

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Speaker 2: June teen celebrations are kicking off across the country. You're

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looking at Galveston, Texas, the place where the last enslaved

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people in the country learned they were free, more than

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two years after the emancipation proclamation. Now celebrations will be

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kicking off across the country, but organizers teal ABC News

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President Trump's push against DEI policies has led some cities

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to scale back festivities this year. Darren Anderson, CEO of

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the Urban League of Greater Philadelphia, has more on the

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June teenth holiday. Darren, thanks for being here. I want

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to start things off with just the basics. Can you

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walk us through the history behind June teenth and these celebrations.

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Speaker 1: As a native text and Juneteenth is a jubilee. It

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is a celebration of black culture, of black heritage.

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Speaker 3: It came to be in eighteen sixty five in June

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is when slaves were told by Union soldiers that they

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had been free, which is six months after the sign

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of the thirteenth Amendment and as well as about two

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years after the emancipation proclamation.

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Speaker 2: Now you lead the Urban League of Greater Philadelphia, So

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what are the juneteen celebrations going to be like there.

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Speaker 1: Today, celebrations all across the city, festivities. There's an opportunity

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for us to engage with food, to with culture of individuals.

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It's an opportunity for us to reflect back on the

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long history of how Africans have impacted this country and

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how Black culture have shaped and has imperatives that have

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been important with the shaping and with the understanding of

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who we are and who we are as a country now.

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Speaker 2: Or organizers at some of these events say some cities

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are scaling back this year due to the Trump administrations

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push against DEI policies or certain DEE policies. What's your

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take on that. Have you seen that.

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Speaker 1: Seen and certainly not here in Philadelphia where the Liberty

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Bill stands. This is about freedom and what June teenth

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is about independence, It's about Black Americans, is about black

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culture and the black Black heritage. So we stand firm

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in our mission, we stand firm in our purpose, and

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we stand firm in the importance of celebrating who we are.

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Speaker 2: So what's the appropriate way to celebrate Juneteenth? Is this

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something that is reserved for black people in African Americans

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in the United States? Or should white people get involved

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to walk us through that part of it.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely. I mean Juneteenth is as celebration of when blacks

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was learned that enslaved individuals were free. However, it's a

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celebration for all cultures. African American history is American history.

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The significant input that we had in this country should

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be celebrated by all. We should come together have this conversation.

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How does doll log continue to be open with London

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under and to have a better understanding. This is about diversity,

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This is about it echoly and this is also about

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inclusion and it's bringing everyone together so we can have

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a form of battleship.

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Speaker 2: So what are some of your favorite ways to celebrate

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Juneteenth and some of the favorite ways you suggest celebrating Juneteenth.

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Speaker 1: Well, you know, as a Texan, I've been celebrating this

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since birth. I'm fifty years of age and it's been

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all the time, every day since eighteen sixty six. In Texas,

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we have been celebrating this starting in Galveston, Texas. So

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we're going to have food, We're going to have book readings,

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We're going to have celebrities that's going to come in

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to the city. We're going to celebrate music. We're going

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to celebrate who we are in the totality, but we

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want to celebrate ourselves with the understanding that we are

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a part of American history and we should be celebrated

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as such.

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Speaker 2: All right, Taron Anderson, CEO of the Urban League of

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Greater Philadelphia, thank you and happy junteenth to you.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for having me