Ewing said his election has reinvigorated Omaha’s Juneteenth celebration and he believes Omaha can set an example for the nation in acknowledging American history and making everyone feel they belong.
“Instead of running from our history, instead of trying to take away from what actually happened in America, we need to embrace it, and then we need to learn the lessons from it,” Ewing said.
He added he hopes he’s not just a role model for kids who look like him, but he hopes he can also show kids who don’t look like him that a city can be led by a Black man.
“We can be like the rest of the country and have all of the fighting and all of the anger and have that be counterproductive, or we can look at how we can be great together, and that’s the only way Omaha is going to be as great as it can be, is if we’re all in this thing together,” he added.
But some of that national tension has leaked into Omaha’s celebration. Frankie Jean Williams said some sponsors from previous years backed out from their support of Juneteenth due to the Trump administration’s push for diversity, equity and inclusion rollbacks.
“It wasn’t surprising,” she said. “It was a way out for them. They were doing something that they didn’t want to do in the first place, and it just shows true colors. And I definitely want people to know who pulled out who and I want people to know who stayed.”
Frankie Jean Williams said this was the largest parade in terms of participants, though. Organizers had 158 entries, including the elected officials and the sponsors. 5,600 people were in the parade lineup. And she has no plans to stop growing. Branch President T. Michael Williams said he noticed more people than ever viewing the parade.
The parade isn’t the only celebration that saw regular sponsors pull out. Community-building events organization Freedomtainment’s Operation Manager Calvin Williams organizes the Omaha Freedom Festival, the event following the parade, at the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation.
“When Trump got into office, the funding had changed immediately, and we saw and we’re feeling the impact now,” he said.
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