'It Should be Celebrated Every Year with a Fight, and a Push for Change': Black Youth on Juneteenth

While some Americans are just learning about the significance of Juneteenth, Bay Area teenagers are claiming the holiday for themselves.

"I only learned about Juneteenth a few years ago," said Isha Clarke who didn't grow up celebrating Juneteenth. But this year, the 17-year-old led a protest.

"I was like, we need to do a Black youth-led protest on Juneteenth," she said. "This is definitely a time to reclaim that holiday and to acknowledge that this is our Independence Day, it’s not the 4th of July."

It’s that idea that led Clarke to bring together friends and fellow organizers to form the group Black Youth for the People’s Liberation.

To prepare for Juneteenth they met at DeFremery Park in West Oakland, with their masks on, under the shade of a big tree and got to work painting the words "Fight 4 ALL Black Lives" in bold black letters on a big sheet of canvas, and stenciling signs with Black power fists and the words “Listen to Youth."

They held their Juneteenth event at DeFremery Friday afternoon, where Clarke and the others spoke and then led a march through West Oakland.

"We're celebrating all of our ancestors and the people that came before us, who fought since the day they were kidnapped," Clarke said. "And also acknowledging that we have so much more to do."

As organizers, Clarke and the other organizers know what kind of work goes into forcing change. That’s partly why they’re really skeptical of some of the attention on Juneteenth right now.

"I'm seeing exploitation from celebrities, from big companies," said 15-year-old Luna Fife. "They're commodifying it — it's just, it's blank words."

"What are you gonna do for your Black workers to support them?" Clarke said. "Are you donating to grassroots organizations who are doing the work? Like, what are you actually doing?"

These activists know how they want to honor each Juneteenth from now on.

"We're still enslaved in so many different forms and it shouldn't be celebrated until we're all free," Fife said. "Therefore, it should be celebrated every year with a fight, and a push for change."