Skokie celebrates Juneteenth with dance, heritage
'The turnout has been great — we're really happy about people coming to celebrate American history,' said Brian Williams, a founding member of Skokie United, whose members include mostly nonprofit and government representatives who organize the Juneteenth celebration.
'Juneteenth means Emancipation Day, Freedom Day — it's an American story that needs to be taught more,' he added. 'It's history we have to teach so we don't have to repeat it.'
Roz Tillman of Skokie took the stage to lead a group of attendees in dance.
'We call ourselves the Classy Sassy Skokie Dancers,' she said.
Natasha Lavallias, a Skokie resident who attended with her daughter, said she hadn't known about Juneteenth when she was growing up, but defined it as 'coming together and celebrating freedom, though there's still more to do.'
Sylvia England, however, had known of Juneteenth for about the last 40 years. England, founder and executive director of the African American Museum at England Manor, and about six others were staffing a tent with cultural displays from the Waukegan museum.
The museum brings in students to teach them about African-American history, she said.
'And with our history being put to the side, should I say, it's important for us to have a presence in the community. So we bring the students to the museum. You know, we're teaching them, we're showing them artifacts.
'But the whole reason why we're here in Skokie is because you want to branch out and see what people are doing across Illinois, and the country.'
La Wanna Wells, chief equity officer for Niles Township High School District 219 who is leaving that role June 30, spoke about the state of equity efforts, saying DEI stories are being erased across the nation, and the average DEI director in North Shore school districts only makes it two years in their role.
She said she'll become associate principal in a different school district that has an active DEI director.
'I am reminded that Juneteenth was the beginning of transforming enslaved people back to the status they deserved, which was human,' she said, before disclosing that Juneteenth, June 19, is her birthday. The audience applauded.
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