Juneteenth celebrated by San Mateo County

The performance was part of the Juneteenth Flag Raising at the County Center in Redwood City Tuesday morning. Featuring speeches and performances from county leaders and community members, the event was one of several county Juneteenth events this month. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day the last enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas, learned that they were free. It has been a federal holiday since 2021.

“I look out at all the faces of all the Black leaders and community members here, and I feel our ancestors, and they’re so proud of us,” said Kalimah Salahuddin, the event’s master of ceremonies. Salahuddin is a Jefferson Union High School Board Trustee and REACH Coalition co-founder. 

The red, white and blue Juneteenth flag will fly at the County Center for the rest of June. The county raised it for the first time in 2022. 

“While this is a step towards inclusion … there’s still much, much more work that needs to be done,” said Dana Johnson, the county LGBTQ Commissioner, PRIDE Initiative co-chair, and CoastPride Center board member. 

Johnson spoke at the event on their intersectional experience as a masculine-presenting, transgender, nonbinary person of color. To Johnson, the idea of “belonging” has to become a key part of the county’s approach to diversity, equity and inclusion. 

Other speakers included San Mateo County Supervisor Noelia Corzo, who sponsored the event, along with College of San Mateo President Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza and the Rev. Lorrie Carter Owens, president of the NAACP’s San Mateo branch. 

“We stand today in need of truth in the same way that the slaves and the slavers of Galveston, Texas, stood and needed the truth back in 1865,” Owens said. “It wasn’t the shackles, the metal shackles, that kept the slaves in the field, that kept them bound. It was the mental shackles that come from ignorance … the same chains that we are experiencing in some quarters today.” 

More Juneteenth events are planned for this month. A celebration in partnership with the African American Community Initiative will be June 16 at East Palo Alto Academy, and a short film screening will take place at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Community Space in Redwood City June 21. 

“I think we should kind of, you know, take a little bit more time to really celebrate it and continue it throughout the month,” said Jacob Virges, an East Palo Alto spoken word artist who performed two pieces at the celebration. 

There are also ways for the county to honor Juneteenth year-round. For Johnson, one step would be to fly the Juneteenth flag for the whole year. They would also like to see more funding go to services and programs directed toward marginalized communities. 

“I share all the time that my Blackness and my culture is 365 days of the year,” they said.

The county’s Juneteenth Advisory Committee is currently looking into racial disparities surrounding housing, education and health equity, said Shireen Malekafzali, the county’s chief equity officer. She hopes the committee can continue to honor Juneteenth through their work. 

For Salahuddin, words have to be backed up with intention for the county to embody the teachings of Juneteenth. 

“We use ‘equity’ a lot, we use ‘inclusion’ and ‘feeling like we belong,’ but we have to be represented,” she said. 

Segregation and the related issues of policing, housing, education and access to opportunities play a large role in determining whether it’s safe for Black residents to live in San Mateo County, she said. 

Juneteenth is a time for the county to reflect on continuing issues faced by Black residents, but it is also a celebration. 

“For me, this is a day to really celebrate and reflect on the path that we’ve forged so far,” Salahuddin said. “I’m just really proud of everybody, of my entire community and the work that we’ve done, and just continuing to fight.”