Monier Abusaft: Juneteenth's lessons are important for the Spartanburg community

The Spartanburg Juneteenth Organization is a South Carolina nonprofit corporation organized to educate the Spartanburg community about African American history.  Our primary way of presenting this education is through an annual Juneteenth celebration.  

It is so important for a community to have a private organization such as this, with a sole mission to  educate the community on African American history. We have to control that narrative when it comes to educating our next generation on the Black excellence of our culture and people from pre-slavery, slavery, and post-slavery.

Juneteenth is summed up as the journey of people going from property to president in 150+ years. We must understand the power in that statement alone.

Literally, African Americans have transitioned from a place of bondage to a place of leadership over the entire free world, through former President Barack Obama and current Vice President Kamala Harris. That’s the visual arc of what our community has been able to do in the last 150+ years, if you think about it historically.

Related: During Juneteenth, here's where to see historical Black landmarks in Spartanburg County

Read this: Here's what to know about Spartanburg's Juneteenth events

The Spartanburg Juneteenth, Inc.'s constituency is the broader Spartanburg community with a particular focus on African American and under-served communities. This makes it unique among the city’s festivals because the City of Spartanburg has a majority African American population, but its cultural offerings do not reflect this . Our mission is to educate the Spartanburg community through many different activities and events including our annual Juneteenth celebration Revival. We desire to first spread information on what Juneteenth is and the history of this celebration from 1865 and ongoing.

We are today, at a moment in our community when  teaching  about our rich Black history is needed. These are the impacts we desire to make in this organization. We accomplish this goal in many ways, such as through thought leadership forums, educational forums, art exhibits, and church services, along with food and fellowship.

The benefits we have for this community are directly connected to the impact that we have on the people. The expectation is to have more people of color and not of color walking away from our week of events understanding and appreciating the beauty and excellence of the Black community. If you truly take a look at the arc of the jubilee to now, it is remarkable what we have done as a people.

If we can impact the people, then bigger change can take place, which I think in future years will be a focus and priority of Spartanburg Juneteenth, Inc. Under President Joe Biden, Juneteenth is a federally recognized holiday, and it was a long fight to get that done.

In Georgia, they have long celebrated a paid "state holiday" for Confederate Memorial Day; it now has Juneteenth as a paid state holiday as well.

South Carolina, on the other hand, is malingering .  Juneteenth is a state-recognized holiday in South Carolina and that effort was led by our Spartanburg’s own, Harold Mitchell Jr., but it is not a paid holiday.  It has been one of my deepest disappointments in my first 1.5 years in office, that I haven’t been able to convince those who make these decisions that Juneteenth should be a paid holiday.

Mayor Jerome Rice: Spartanburg celebrates Juneteenth with joy and resolve

I will continue to push for this locally on a county level and city level.  Honestly, I am very surprised that the city has not recognized Juneteenth as a paid holiday.  Those are two fights that we still need to win.

Spartanburg Juneteenth, Inc. is more than a festival; we do things in line with the values and principles of Juneteenth throughout the year, and fighting for a paid holiday is in line with those values and principles.

Spartanburg Juneteenth festivities this year will provide a platform to celebrate our community’s rich history, and they are open to everyone to come and experience.

Our events will inspire future generations to build an even greater black community.

Monier "Mo" Abusaft represents District 1 on Spartanburg County Council.

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Juneteenth's lessons resonate for the community in 2022