New Orleans residents share what Juneteenth means to them
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Thousands of people gathered Wednesday at various events across New Orleans to celebrate Juneteenth with music, food and speeches on what this holiday means to them.
“It means to me everybody could come together and recognize that we are all on this world. We are all one, and in God’s eyesight we are all one,” said event guest Joyce Legaux.
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The holiday marks freedom from slavery in the United States back in 1865. For many, they say it’s important to honor their history and culture on this day by celebrating it.
“For me, it’s important that we really connect with our ancestors. I think a lot of the time, we start forgetting that we have Congo Square. We have these things that are vestiges of our lineage, and I think it’s important that we celebrate it,” said event organizer Juan LaFonta.
Some say that this day goes further than their past though, as it is also a day of reflection on the ongoing struggle against racial injustice throughout the country.
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“We have glass ceilings, we have rooms we’re still not in, we still have dialogues we’re not accepted in. There’s a lot of things that as Black people I don’t think we’ve gotten a full equality and full freedom and I think that’s why we got to keep pushing so we can increase the dialogue of who’s at your table,” said LaFonta.
Those who support the holiday say they hope it continues to gain even more traction since it became national holiday back in 2021.
“If you can celebrate Cinco De Mayo, you can celebrate Juneteenth. If you can celebrate the Fourth of July, you can celebrate Juneteenth. But people talk about equality, they want to show equality, but they don’t want to actually on equality. They don’t really want to do the outreach of equality. So, you can’t really talk about equality and then not celebrate every holiday as if they’re equal,” said event guest Amari McCaskill.
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