Juneteenth honors the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. Though it did not become a federal holiday until 2021, Oakland residents have celebrated Juneteenth at Lake Merritt long before that.
For many, like Desiree Lewis, 27, a healthcare worker, the holiday is a way to celebrate with her community. “Love, Black love, Black culture, Black history, it means so much to me. It brings me back to my roots, and I love seeing Black and brown people outside,” Lewis told The Oaklandside.
OMCA’s Hella Juneteenth Festival drew thousands of attendees and featured Black-owned vendors, dancing, music, food, and other activities. Other popular events included Mistah F.A.B’s poetry night and the Friends Only party in downtown Oakland.
A man who went by the name Cowboy Jamo, from Wiltown Riders, a non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve Black cowboy history by educating youth beyond the classroom, stopped to pose for pictures with several kids outside of OMCA. Sienna Cook, 32, and Sienna Kuykendall, 34, were among the many people basking in the sun and enjoying the music, also at the museum. Jhamesha Webb, 27, and her group of friends were among the people celebrating the holiday in downtown Oakland late into the evening.
But this year, the Oakland Police Department closed several roads around the lake, which appeared to prevent people from gathering in areas that saw large gatherings in past years. Many also noted the presence of numerous police officers around the city. This left some, like Oakland resident Jermaine Patton, 43, searching for a place to gather.
“I wish it would have been at the lake, but due to — I guess what happened last year — they got it all blocked off,” Patton said after parking his motorcycle on Franklin Street to join the hundreds of people tailgating the sold-out Friends Only party.
Though the city of Oakland announced the road closures ahead of Juneteenth, and many expected increased police presence because of the mass shooting following last year’s Juneteenth celebration, the empty streets and parks surrounding the lake this year came as a surprise for lots of people. Musician Kev Choice criticized the road closures and police presence. “Yes, safety matters. But what we saw was not safety. It was suppression,” he wrote on Instagram.
Jabari Garvey Shaw, 46, with The Universal Negro Improvement Association & African Communities League, was among the people who decided to celebrate Juneteenth at Mosswood Park. Shaw, a longtime Oakland resident, was disappointed by the large police presence at both locations.
“We knew it was gonna be something, but we didn’t think it was to this extent. You know people was demoralized. A lot of people left, we got people that came in from other cities because Oakland has been one of the forebears of Juneteenth and celebrating Black culture,” Shaw said.
Shaw said he was among a group who helped patch people up after last year’s shooting and felt that police did not do enough to help the community. “They’re here but they’re not doing nothing and then they trying to stop us from having fun, you know, this could have been organized way better,” he said.
Katara Holiday, 36, came from San Francisco to celebrate the holiday in Oakland with a group of friends. “Oakland has a long history of celebrating our blackness, and this is the place to celebrate,” Shaw said.
“This is a day specifically to celebrate blackness, and for this to be shut down, a day specifically made for us, that’s disappointing. It’s deliberate,” she added.
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