Freedom, liberation: Monmouth County residents come together to celebrate Juneteenth

Teacher Kia Lyons summed up what Juneteenth meant to her in one word — freedom.

Lyons, who works at Neptune High School, joined hundreds of fellow residents Saturday at a joint celebration held by Neptune and Asbury Park to mark the day.

"It's America finally catching up to the times and just acknowledging our struggles and paying homage to what we already know exists in this trying time," Lyons said as some of her students enjoyed the day's events.

Neptune High School sophomores Ameliana Muniz and Amaya Morales came with their cheerleading team, and didn't let fresh manicures stop them from climbing the rock wall erected as part of the block party at Midtown Commons Park.

For them, the celebration, which included performances, food and a wellness fair, was about coming together.

"As a whole, celebrating freedom," Muniz said.

The combined Neptune and Asbury Park Juneteenth celebration was one of many held in the area including a three-day celebration in Freehold, which featured a march Saturday to the Hall of Records on Main Street.

Rep. Frank Pallone, of the 6th Congressional District, joined the crowd in Neptune and recalled the effort to have Juneteenth designated a federal holiday.

"This is the second year that it is a national holiday, and I worked in Congress to try and get it passed to become a national holiday, so I like to go to the celebration," Pallone said.

"This (celebration) is particularly nice because it joins the two towns, Neptune and Asbury Park," Pallone said. "Today is dedicated to Black health, and one of the things I continue to be concerned about is the disparities between the Black community and the rest of America."

While Texans have celebrated Juneteenth for decades, celebrations in other parts of the country are still growing as Americans learn more about the day.

"I just realize as an educator that there are history teachers that don't even know (what Juneteenth is)," Lyons said.

The day's events also honored to a number of locals, including Pastor Semaj Vanzant, the Cazzeek Brothers, Lyander "Brother" Wade, Tabef Smith, Elder Gary Eason Sr, Rodney Solomon,  Dr. Rashawn Adams, Gregory Hopson, Daniel Harris, Ty'sef Meacham, Tyree Morton and Pastor Jason Jennings. Each was  honored and given a proclamation recognizing them as great fathers.

Mychal Mills, one of the honorees, started KYDS, Konscious Youth Development & Service with Rodney Salomon.

Mills said Juneteenth means liberation.

"Beyond the liberation of slavery and prisons, but for us liberated people understanding that we are always free but we had to liberate ourselves to get to that freedom," he said.

Tonya Hornsby, one of the founders of the Monmouth County Diversity Alliance Inc., which sponsored the Freehold events, also said it is important that communities outside of the Asbury and Neptune area represented in the Juneteenth celebrations.

"Because in western Monmouth, there is is no representation for us out here, for everybody out here. You always hear about the Asbury, Neptune, urban areas but you forget about the Bay Shore area, Keyport, Matawan, Freehold, Howell, Jackson,"  Hornsby said.

Ronald Sparks, president of the alliance and pastor of Bethel A.M.E Church, started the Freehold celebration Saturday with a service at the church's cemetery, which is also a civil war graveyard.

The congregation of around 50 people then marched from the church to the Hall of Records on Main Street.

Sparks said it was a celebration of freedom and community.

"As far as meeting peoples' needs, as far as helping each other through their struggles, as far as helping each other grow and develop, and working together as a community, and in that we begin to celebrate the freedoms that we all have," Sparks said.

The group partnered with Freehold Borough, Sparks and the town hope to make the Juneteenth Celebration of Freedom an annual event.

What is Juneteenth?

Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. It is also known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Juneteenth Independence Day and Black Independence Day.

On  June 19, 1865, Maj. Gen. l Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas with 2,000 federal troops and announced, via General Order No. 3, the end  of the Civil War and the end of slavery.  Although the Emancipation Proclamation came two and a half years earlier on January 1, 1863, many enslavers continued to hold enslaved Black people captive after the announcement, so Juneteenth became a symbolic date representing freedom.

New Jersey first recognized Juneteenth as a holiday in 2004.

In 2020, Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation which designated the third Friday in June as a state and public holiday known as Juneteenth Day.

President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law, making it a federal holiday, in June 2021.

Charles Daye is the metro reporter for Asbury Park and Neptune, with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. @CharlesDayeAPP Contact him: CDaye@gannettnj.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth County, NJ residents celebrate Juneteenth national holiday