Starkville’s Unity Park hosts Juneteenth community event
Community members from across Starkville gathered to celebrate Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the end of slavery in the United States.
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Community members from across Starkville gathered to celebrate Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the end of slavery in the United States.
The event took place in Unity Park, which was built in tribute to those who fought for civil rights.
District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard says the event serves to honor the past and look to the future.
“This event serves a couple of purposes. One is to see how far we have come as a country since the enslavement of other human beings. Two, to also highlight the work we still have ahead of us, that we still need to make sure that we don’t grow weary of doing this work and moving our state and our country forward.”
The event hosted a variety of speakers that included educators and advocates.
Speaker Sanford Johnson is a former U.S. history teacher. He says Starkville has always been a great community willing to change.
“Starkville has been one of those communities where folks have done a really good job of finding a way to bring the community together more, how do we make progress, how do we continue to grow, how do we continue to build; and I think that this is an event that sort of shows that and it’s a model for other communities around the state of Mississippi.”
However, growth never ends and it’s up to the community to continue making their city better.
“Just be involved with your community. You can start with your neighborhood and then you can just branch out from there. You need to ask questions about what can we do to make our community better and what is the thing that I can do. I think just by asking those questions, I think that we can get to a place where we have communities that are stronger and even better.”
While Juneteenth has been celebrated for decades, it wasn’t established as a federal holiday until
June of 2021.
