Enshrined as a federal holiday in 2020, Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States on June 19, 1865. On that day in Galveston, Texas, Major General Gordon Granger announced the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in the state, 71 days after General Lee surrendered to General Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse. Today we invite Lake Leelanau resident Chris Stone, who is active with Northern Michigan E3, the “Up North anti-racism task force,” to share thoughts on the holiday. As told to Jeff Smith.

I didn’t hear about Juneteenth until maybe seventh or eighth grade. And I already knew a lot about black history because I grew up in a small town that was predominantly black and they taught black history well in the schools. There were only maybe four white families in our whole town. So when I heard about Juneteenth it caught me off guard, like how had I not heard of this … it was something new and important. The town was East Chicago, just 30 miles from Chicago, but nothing like Chicago. We had just two stoplights: coming into town a stoplight, going out of town a stoplight.

When I think about Juneteenth I have quite a few thoughts. One, it is a day of celebration. But it’s also a day of remembrance, thinking about what it means, how it came about. So, yes, those thoughts do take you all over the place, when you really think about it. But now I’m primarily focused on the celebration, especially now that I’m part of Northern Michigan E3. Part of that celebration is educational. Part of that celebration is that this day is for all people, not just black people. It’s for all people. We educate and remember what Juneteenth means, and how it came about.

Hopefully Juneteenth will be something that’s taught in schools, to all generations, all races, colors, religious persuasions, so people can learn about this history, much like we learn about the Holocaust … it should have more prominence. Because the day does take you all over the place in your thoughts and in addition to the celebration there is the darker side, the dark history of slavery that is associated with this country, and now, even today in 2024, it still has an impact on people of color. Some people deny it, and they try to look away from it and not acknowledge it, but the impact is still there. It’s very much still there.

When I was younger, I would focus more on the dark part of this history. But now, again, I focus on the celebration, and the educational part at the same time. Through education, we are fighting for getting people to open their minds to the negative things, the negative parts of this story, so they can, hopefully they can get past it, learn from it. We need to get to a place where people just look at their fellow man, their neighbor, coworker, as someone who is equal to them. You know, that we are all trying to do the same things … to raise a family, and make a better way for our children, and trying to work just as hard as everyone else, stand up on our own two feet.

I’ve lived in northern Michigan for eight years. I work in Traverse City, but I live in the town of Lake Leelanau, and when I get off work, I head home, so I actually don’t spend a lot of time hanging out in Traverse City. But in my town, I love to interact with people. So if I go to the grocery store, I’m more than happy to talk to anybody that’s waiting in the line with me. I don’t know, maybe I have that sort of faith in people, and people can sense that and just tend to talk to me about anything and everything. I love those interactions, because you don’t know each other and you know you’re just getting lost in this conversation. And you leave the store and think, Wow, that was a great conversation. So, I guess what I’m saying is that over time, people have become more open to having conversations with strangers, with people of color, and that’s a good thing. That’s a really great thing.

Sense of community is really important to me, and when I think about Northern Michigan E3, one of the things I like about it is the sense of community, the dedication of the people, and the experience of the group. They genuinely, truly want to help people. They do all they can to help people in crisis. They go above and beyond, helping whoever they can in so many ways. We help people with their mental health, with finding affordable housing, and dealing with racism. For kids in school, we help with scholarships, backpacks with school supplies. A lot of the little things that we do go a long way in helping the community. The three Es in E3 stand for educate, elevate, and engage, and that’s what we try to do. I got involved when, after I went to one of their events, my wife knew one of the members, and he asked if I wanted to join. I had no clue as to who E3 was, but I said, OK, that’s cool, and joined.

One of the things I like best about E3 is we raise money for scholarships. In that way, we’re giving back to the community, helping kids achieve their goals, further their education. To me, that’s very important to give them a shot at continuing their education. Another way we help is when kids have trouble in school, we intervene on their behalf, like when kids are being bullied in school because of their color. That’s very painful, and it still happens, which is extremely sad, but that stands out for me. We help to find some sort of resolution, educate the offending student. And you know, we don’t want to punish anyone. We just want them to learn.

But, back to Juneteenth, what I’m really proud about, really happy about, is when I see the turnout of people at our E3 event. I see a cross-section of people in the crowd. And they are with us. And we’re all here together, and we are all on the same page. And that’s pretty powerful. There’s no negativity. We’re all there having a good time celebrating. We’re all learning something at the same time that we are celebrating. And we have performers singing, and I’m feeling very happy about it. This year will be our fifth Juneteenth celebration.