Juneteenth celebrated at Oakland's Lake Merritt

[00:00:00]Well, today is Juneteenth, known as the celebration of freedom and the end of slavery in the US and it commemorates June 19th, 1865.

[00:00:08]On that day, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas at the end of the Civil War with an order declaring the state's enslaved people to be free with quote, "absolute equality." By then, 2 and 1/2 years had passed by the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the freedom of enslaved people in the South.

[00:00:25]Juneteenth was also just declared a federal holiday back in 2021 by President Joe Biden. But the holiday has been consistently celebrated by black communities all over the country for 161 years now.

[00:00:38]In Oakland, multiple Juneteenth celebrations took place at Prescott Market, the Oakland Museum, and around Lake Merritt. Kron 4's Amanda Harry has more.

[00:00:48]>> Here around Lake Merritt, streets just reopened a little after 8:00 p.m. City officials say they closed the streets to support the Juneteenth celebrations, but we're actually seeing some bigger crowds now that the streets are reopened. Some people say they appreciated the extra security, while others feel it added an obstacle.

[00:01:09]>> [music] >> Music, food, and art filled the sidewalks around Oakland's Lake Merritt as people celebrated African-American heritage.

[00:01:18]>> It's beautiful. It really, you know, changes the perspective when you think of Oakland.

[00:01:22]>> Deja Andrews was one of the vendors at the festival, selling paintings from her company Vault 222.

[00:01:29]But she was also remembering the significance of Juneteenth, the effective end of slavery in the US, and what came before that.

[00:01:37]>> We're out here to make sure that all of the sacrifices our ancestors made are not going to waste. Our talents are being put to the forefront and we want the world to know who we are.

[00:01:48]>> Several streets around the festival were shut down all day. City officials said in a statement it was to support the celebration. Quote, "The goal of these steps is to safely accommodate large numbers of visitors to the lake so everyone feels welcome and safe and to ensure emergency vehicles and transit access."

[00:02:08]>> I expected it to be a little bit more, but this is good enough.

[00:02:12]>> Brent Howard says what's most important is that he gets to spend time with his family and meet new people. But he does feel like the closure impacted the number of people who attended.

[00:02:23]>> When they shut down the streets, it's like people don't want to want to really come. You got to find parking, you got to walk real far, and you got to do and you're around the lake. You don't have to do that during a regular weekday.

[00:02:34]>> But Andrews enjoyed that the event was a little calmer.

[00:02:37]>> There's all of the stereotypes about how it's not safe right now, you know, nobody wants to come out. [music] It's all just ghetto, >> [laughter] >> but it's not that. It's the complete opposite. I want to expand on this. We need more than just days like Juneteenth.

[00:02:51]>> We saw police officers around the event throughout the day and those officers stayed after the roads reopened. In Oakland, Amanda Harris, KRON 4 News.