Several of the area’s most visible Black community leaders say politics — not safety — guided what Akron NAACP President Judi Hill called the “Juneteenth fiasco.”
For Hill and her peers, the letter eight City Council members sent Akron Mayor Shammas Malik on Friday afternoon urging him to cancel all weekend Juneteenth events on city-owned property was a naked political punch that sparked an intergovernmental fight.
In the end, this fight hurts Akron’s Black community and those who celebrate Juneteenth, she said.
Hill discussed her concerns about the cancellations with reporters from the Akron Beacon Journal and Akron Signal Monday afternoon. She was joined by Akron NAACP Education Chair Lathardus Goggins II, Freedom BLOC Executive Director Ray Greene and civil rights attorney Imokhai Okolo.
“There was a political motive behind this,” said Okolo, also a Freedom BLOC organizer. “I don’t recall a fight let alone an argument at NAACP or Freedom BLOC events.”
Council members say letter was not political
For Ward 5 Councilman Johnnie Hannah. the letter was not about politics, but about safety in the community.
“I requested my colleagues to send a letter to me and to the mayor,” he said in a separate interview. “If you have a mass shooting in your city, and you want to look out for that community, why not be proactive?”
City Council President Margo Sommerville, the Ward 3 representative, told the Beacon Journal she was concerned about the police presence at each event and wanted to know more about the city’s plan.
“I was told there would be four officers at the Joy Park event, and there will be nine officers and Hawkins,” she said. “I immediately asked, ‘Why don’t we have more officers on the east side?'”
She also signed her name because she said she never had a conversation with about the events in these neighborhoods.
Mayor canceled all weekend city events after receiving last-minute letter
For Hill, the letter backed Malik into a corner, forcing him to act despite having a plan to provide additional security at Juneteenth events through the Akron Police Department.
“I think (Malik) had to do something, but the broader implication for the city is that we are not a safe city,” Hill said. “You cancel everything because we haven’t caught the person.”
Despite there being no credible threat, according to Malik and Akron Police Chief Brian Harding, the letter expressed concerns about violence at the predominantly Black Juneteenth events Hill said. This left her and her colleagues questioning what those specific concerns involved.
For Goggins, the letter outlined an old narrative about the Black community that sees it as “maladjusted” and unsafe, he said. Instead of providing solutions, it aimed to cancel significant events that could help the community heal.
The letter also misconstrued an incident that occurred after the funeral of 27-year-old LaTeris Cook, who was shot in the June 2 shooting, as “violence,” Greene said.
“Just today, violence broke out at the funeral of the young man killed in the horrific June 2nd mass shooting,” the letter read.
Cook’s stepmother confirmed for the Akron Beacon Journal that the “violence” was a verbal dispute between two people that was quickly handled.
Funerals are emotional for all involved, Goggins said. Emotions can run high as friends and family members grieve and prepare for a life with the person they just laid to rest. Verbal disputes at funerals are not an uncommon occurrence, he explained.
“They are still processing emotions, so (the incident) in the correct context is absolutely normal,” Goggins said.
A lack of proactive solutions
These events, Goggins said, were missed opportunities for city officials to create relationships with their constituents while giving the city a positive way to engage with its residents that builds safety.
Engagement could range from inserting specialists to process trauma and frustration to providing mental health services and conflict resolution, but by not being present and taking away these events, he said, people bottle up their feelings for some later explosion.
For Greene, the June 2 shooting being characterized as a mass shooting missed the point. The incident was the result of a community he said is “being starved for resources” by a city without a vision to deal with violence.
Part of the problem, he said, is that elected officials don’t always have relationships with their constituents, which leads to policies and decisions that hurt their communities.
Bryce Buyakie covers courts and public safety for the Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at bbuyakie@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @bryce_buyakie.
