六月节, 黑人社区一直在庆祝这个节日, is a tribute to the day in 1865 when African Americans in 德州 learned that they were free – two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed freeing all slaves in the U.S.
This year’s celebration comes at a moment of deep reckoning in our nation, as communities across the country grapple with the continued legacy of institutional and systemic racism. 在我们庆祝六月节的时候, and recognize the significance racism plays in our own history and current realties, 通过故事来撬动今天的力量是很重要的.
以下是我们一些员工的感想:
总裁兼首席执行官凯伦·麦克尼尔-米勒:
“六月节 is my annual reminder that July 4, 1776 was not Independence Day for everyone. It took another 89 years for African-Americans to receive their independence. Add to that the years from 1619 when the first African slaves were delivered onto what is now American soil and that makes a total of 246 years of a head start that Whites in this country had. 二百四十六年! 我甚至不知道那是几代人.
Imagine being told you could now start running a marathon when you had no training, 没有适当的饮食, 没有鞋子, 没有路线地图, no idea even what a marathon was – and that there would be barriers and obstacles put in your way, 你腿上的镣铐, 比赛中的其他人已经跑到了20英里! But run the race they did, and run the race we still do as a people.
What we do at 365bet官网中文登陆 is help all the runners who didn’t have the advantage of a head start in the race, 移除障碍, 普及, 努力在排行榜上占据一席之地.
我对第一批获得自由的奴隶充满感激之情, 尤其是他们的孩子, 还有他们孩子的孩子, all the way down to my Mama and Daddy who somehow ‘made a way out of no way’ that ultimately allowed me to be. 允许我在这里. 允许我现在在这里. 允许我在这里，现在，做这项工作.”
高级项目官员Collinus 新闻ome:
“My dad required us to go to 六月节 every year for as long as I can remember. Both of my parents were born and raised in rural Mississippi and the history of 六月节 was always front and center in our lives.
Neither of them talked about what it meant to grow up poor in a segregated society, but we understood and appreciated how hard they worked to ensure we would never experience the kind of racism and hatred they endured.
My dad worked for the Gates Rubber Company for 30+ years and they always had a booth with all sorts of things you could learn and do, including getting a blood pressure reading and literature on diabetes. The first time I had my blood pressure read was at 六月节 in 1987. 我11岁. 我永远不会忘记那一刻，还有美味的食物和音乐.”
投资组合总监Jehan Benton-Clark:
“We must never forget the reason 六月节 is celebrated: It’s the day, in 1865, that Black people learned slavery had ended two years prior with the Emancipation Proclamation. 那天我们都获得了自由.’
这让我想起了我的责任, 基金会已经做到了, to ensure that we are directly providing philanthropic support to groups who are working towards justice, and that we are utilizing our influence and voice to advocate for those we exist to serve and advance health equity.
黑人和土著人, and other people of color who find themselves at the mercy of systems built to exclude them, 我们必须继续专注于拆除不公平的结构. 我们必须确保项目和服务惠及全体人民, and we must advocate for policies and implement them in a way that can change people’s lives today.”
高级行政助理Bryana Cunningham:
“作为一个孩子, 六月节 was like a huge city-wide Black family reunion and celebration of love, 历史文化. It was all about being free to love my own Brown skin and not feel like I had to mind my Ps and Qs because it was just “us.”
My fondest memories are going down to Five Points and seeing people I hadn’t seen all year, looking at interesting vendor booths and eating REALLY good food. 我也喜欢震撼灵魂的音乐, line-dancing and two-steppin’ in the blistering heat on Welton Street while onlookers try to find even the tiniest piece of shade. 游行, step-teams, 训练团队, 漂亮的辫子, afro-puffs and the smell of shea and cocoa butter wafting through the dry Denver air.
虽然大流行使我们无法聚集在一起, there’s even more of a reminder to celebrate 六月节 as the day, in 1865, 我们都知道我们被释放了. 当我看到我们国家正在发生的事情, 我发现我在问自己, 真正需要提醒的人是谁?’ Today, in 2020, we still fight for air and the right to simply live while Black. 我希望大家能加入 虚拟的六月音乐节.
I’m so grateful to be a part of an organization that encourages us to share in ways that we traditionally haven’t been allowed to or asked to in the past. Telling our stories and having them heard is just one way that the Foundation helps bring health in reach for all Coloradoans.”
莫尼克·约翰逊，项目官员:
“成长, I’ve always known of 六月节 – with my Father being from Beaumont, 德州, 和我母亲在阿托卡的家人, 俄克拉何马州. 我们受到的教育和我父母知道的一样多. Much of their culture was brought here to Colorado when they moved, and for that I am proud.
I am not proud, however, of the fact that what I was taught in school did not reflect true history. 历史不是我们只从书本上学到的, 而是在我们周日餐桌上的谈话中, 或者在家庭烧烤的时候. We do celebrate Family on the Fourth of July – not as the day of our independence, 而是一个相交的时间! 我们庆祝我们的历史, 以及我们的独立性, on 六月节 – the day Black human beings in this country got news that they were freed!
在基金会, we’re centering communities’ experiences and trying to understand how we can best support them in reaching their best health. 就像我们与科罗拉多州社区的合作一样, honoring 六月节 pays homage to the experiences of people – specifically on this day to enslaved Africans who endured so much for me and my family.”