Title
Honoring and recognizing the national holiday Juneteenth 2026 as an annual celebration of Black Freedom, Liberation, and Resilience in the City of Saint Paul
Body
WHEREAS Juneteenth also known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, or Juneteenth Independence Day, commemorates the emancipation of African American descendants of chattel slavery in the United States; and
WHEREAS the path to Juneteenth began on "Freedom's Eve," December 31, 1862, when enslaved and free African Americans gathered in churches, homes, and community spaces across the nation in anticipation of the Emancipation Proclamation taking effect at midnight on January 1, 1863; and
WHEREAS although the Emancipation Proclamation declared enslaved people in Confederate states legally free, its enforcement depended upon the presence of Union forces, leaving many enslaved people in bondage until June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced the freedom of more than 250,000 enslaved African Americans, giving rise to the celebration now known as Juneteenth; and
WHEREAS the years following emancipation reflected both the promise and challenges of freedom, as formerly enslaved people reunited families, established schools and businesses, built institutions, and pursued self-determination despite persistent barriers and broken promises; and
WHEREAS generations of Black Americans endured and resisted systems of racial discrimination, including racial violence, segregation, redlining, and other policies and practices whose impacts continue to shape communities today; and
WHEREAS in Saint Paul, systemic discrimination was perpetuated through racial covenants redlining, unequal access to housing and economic opportunity, environmental injustice, and the destruction of the historic Rondo neighborhood, the heart of Saint Paul's Black business, residential, cultural, and spiritual life for the construction of Interstate 94; and
WHEREAS recognizing that freedom is strengthened throug...
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