St. John’s United Church of Christ made its Juneteenth celebration a block party.
The north city church blocked off a few side streets complete with bounce houses, carnival jugglers, Scoops Premium Water Ice, which is a Black-owned business, and free BBQ.
The DJ was spinning hits from Frankie Beverly and Maze, Musiq Soulchild, Lauryn Hill, and many more. Folks of all ages and ethnicities were dancing, doing the electric slide.
Community organizations including Action STL, and Arch City Defenders respectively registered residents to vote and informed them of accessible legal services.
It was an all-out old-fashioned family reunion cookout.
Reverend Michelle Higgins said the 107-year-old church has “a very powerful spiritual reckoning to deal with racism directly.”
She said the community she serves “has been impoverished for decades because of systemic practices of racism, and gave a reminder of her congregation’s involvement in the Ferguson Uprising in 2014.
“Our future is tied to the north side and it’s a place of mass disinvestment. You can look around and see that systemic reparations need to start in 99% Black neighborhoods,” said Rev. Higgins.
“Juneteenth is a day of celebration to talk and uplift the conversation of reparations.”
Higgins plans to attend the next city Reparations Commission meeting at noon Saturday, June 24 at New Northside Baptist Church.
The holiday’s roots trace back to Texas, where two years after the emancipation proclamation, former slaves celebrated on June 19, 1865. The date became a regional holiday, then spread to other parts of the country. President Biden signed an executive order making Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021.
Charlie Woods, 9, said celebrating Juneteenth “is cool because it brings all of the community together, especially Black people.”
“I love it. I’m very happy about [ Juneteenth.] At the same time, it seems a little too good to be true. I can’t believe we are getting recognition,” said 17-year-old Sophia Ali.
Widespread recognition of the holiday took decades. It was celebrated mainly in Texas, and in the South.
