The Clackamas print., June 01, 2022, Page 10, Image 10

___________ NEWS_______________ n
College recognizes Juneteenth
STORY BY ETHAN M ROGERS
Holiday commemorates end of slavery
NEWS EDITOR
Holidays are, when you get right down to
it, cultural stories handed down from one
generation to the next. The things people
celebrate, the things they honor, explain
what they value.
Clackamas Community College has a
new holiday starting this month, having
added Juneteenth as an official college
holiday.
The Clackamas Community College Board
made the holiday official for the college by
issuing a proclamation on April 20 of this
year.
Juneteenth celebrates the the last slaves
emancipated, or freed, by US Tropps
during the civil war.
Union troops marched into Texas after
defeating the last m^jor resistance of
Confederate forces. Msgor General Gordon
Granger issued General Order 3 and
Juneteenth was bom.
Over 150 years later that holiday,
celebrating emancipation and freedom,
has grown beyond Texas and become a
national holiday, being signed into law by
President Joe Biden in June o f2021.
In April 2022 the Clackamas Community
College Board recognized Juneteenth as a
paid holiday for employees.
„ “We really wanted it not to be just
another day off,” said CCC President Tim
“We wanted to start
something we could build on.”
— President Tim Cook
“The United States government
never recognized the independence of
the Confederacy,” said Stewart King,
instructor professor at CCC. “They never
had any formal diplomatic relations or
anything like that. The idea was that
these were rebels and this territoiy, these Stephenson, Mrs. Charles (Grace Murray).
states, these people are still American.
[Emancipation Day Celebration band/June 19,
And so we’ll accept the surrender of rebel 1900], photograph, June 19,1900; Austin History
soldiers but not negotiate anything with
Center, Austin Public Library.
the government of the Confederacy.”
“The last holdouts were in Texas, which
shouldn’t surprise anyone that knows
“The last holdouts were in Texas,
anything about Texas,” said King, “The
Union army took a long time to get down which shouldn’t surprise anyone that
there, into the middle of June, right, so
April was Lee’s surrender at Appomattox knows anything about Texas.”
and it took about two months to sort of
wrap everything up.”
— History instructor Stewart King
Cook, “but really for people to understand
what this day is about.”
Cook could have proclaimed Juneteenth
on his own.
“This wasn’t a board decision, this was a
campus decision so the board didn’t have
to weigh in on it,” said Cook. “Because of
our community and the importance of our
board, and their role, we wanted them to
have a part in this. And of course they were
very eager to support the proclamation.”
Last year, before official college
recognition, CCC partnered with other
agencies and groups for a Juneteenth
event at the Oregon City Library.
‘W e were supporting it with ffie thought
that, in the future, we would share in a
celebration on campus,” said Cook. ‘We
wanted to start something we could build
on.”
This year, the college is ready for
Juneteenth and more.
‘W e’re calling it a community connection
celebration. It’s not just Juneteenth, we’re
combining it with Pride month in June,
blending ffie Juneteenth celebration, ffie
African American celebration of ffie end of
slavery, with Pride.” Said Cook
We’re really trying to do what we can
to have people really understand and
celebrate some of ffie things we’re doing.”
“I’d like to see us be more engaged and
have more opportunities for people to
learn and really appreciate what’s going on
with these activities,” said Cook.
If you want to find out for yourself you
can* head down to campus on June 17 for
Summer Connections, from 5:30 - 7:30
p.m. in ffie Gregory Forum on ffie Oregon
City campus.This is a free, family friendly
event with food, entertainment and more.
Or so says their marketing material.
Whatever you do on Juneteenth adding
a bit of learning about ffie history, and ffie
current state of things, is never a bad idea.
Even if you aren’t a college president.
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