NAACP hosts Juneteenth celebration, educates youth in north Omaha

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – More than 100 entrants in this year’s Juneteenth parade marched down Omaha’s North 24th Street corridor, bringing the community together and providing a teachable moment.

On June 19, 1865, freedom finally came for about 250,000 enslaved people in the state of Texas. Union Army Gen. Gordon Grander arrived in Galveston with news of General Order No. 3, which gave slaves in Texas their freedom.

Grander shared that the Executive of the United States had issued a proclamation, freeing slaves in the state. The document states that the connection, now existing between former masters and slaves, became that between employer and hired labor. The order came two years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the Confederate states.

Some enslavers in Texas didn’t tell their slaves that they were free. For that reason, one of the goals of the Juneteenth celebration here in Omaha is to educate the next generation.

“Our young people need to understand that sometimes people will pull the wool over your eyes,” said Pastor T. Michael Williams, president of the Omaha NAACP. “They need to understand that they need to be vigilant and observant of what’s going on around them…even today as we think about this upcoming election.”

Williams and the NAACP organized the parade. Afterward, the organization holds a recognition brunch, where they thank and give out awards to those who participated.

Williams is hoping a more diverse group of people will want to learn about — and understand — Juneteenth, now that it is a federal holiday.

“I think what we struggle with today is more economic than racial. I do think it’s important that people of all colors realize that anybody can have wool pulled over their eyes… Anybody can be taken advantage of,” Williams said.

Omaha State Sen. Terrell McKinney agrees it’s important to use the parade to educate — especially young black children.

“We can’t just rely on our educational system to educate them about our history,” McKinney said. “We have to educate them as well to make sure they fully understand who we are, where we come from, and what we need to do to continue to push us forward.”

Frankie Williams, parade coordinator, made sure young people were not only being educated, but also involved in the parade “…to let them know the history of North Omaha and how cohesive we were.”

“I had many people say to me this year, ‘Why can’t it be like this everyday?’” she said.

The education of young people in Omaha continues this weekend, when more than 40 students will leave for the annual Black Votes Matter history tour. The tour is a week long, and students learn about Black history in a number of Southern cities including: Tulsa, Okla.; Selma, Ala.; and Memphis, Tenn.