NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 2021
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Hermiston residents celebrate Juneteenth
By BRYCE DOLE
STAFF WRITER
Tina Thomas remem-
bers the day in the early
2000s when she marched
to Hermiston City Hall
on Martin Luther King Jr.
Day. Nearly two decades
after President Ron-
ald Reagan signed a bill
designating it as a fed-
eral holiday, the city still
didn’t recognize it.
The march closed city
hall. From then on, she
said, the city recognized
the holiday. Refl ecting
on that day, Thomas said
one word comes to mind
— change.
“What else can you
say but, change,” said
Thomas, who is Black.
More than two decades
later, Thomas had a new
reason to celebrate. She
joined several dozen
community
members
who fl ocked Saturday,
June 19, to McKenzie
Park for the fi rst federally
recognized Juneteenth,
the holiday commemorat-
ing the end of slavery in
America.
“We’re celebrating a
freedom that was years
short of what it should
have been,” said Thomas,
a lifelong Hermiston res-
ident. “I just think about
that. How our forefa-
thers had to keep work-
ing for two years when
they really didn’t have to.
And now we’re able to
celebrate that every year.
And now it’s a federal
holiday.”
Juneteenth, otherwise
known as Emancipation
Day, Black Independence
Day or Jubilee Day, com-
memorates the day in
1865 when Maj. Gen.
Gordon Granger rode
into Galveston, Texas,
and told African Amer-
icans the Civil War was
over and they were free
— two years after Pres-
ident Abraham Lincoln
signed the Emancipa-
Residents
asked to
conserve
water
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Bryce Dole/Hermiston Herald
Virginia Garcia, left, Dolores Veliz and Bonnie Gracia serve food during a Saturday, June 19, 2021, Juneteenth celebration
at McKenzie Park in Hermiston. On June 17, President Joe Biden signed a law to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.
tion Proclamation. About
seven months later, the
13th Amendment, which
abolished slavery in the
fi nal four states that had
yet to do so, was ratifi ed.
Last week, President
Joe Biden signed a law
that made Juneteenth a
federal holiday. It was the
fi rst newly established
national holiday since
President Reagan added
Martin Luther King Jr.
Day in 1983, celebrating
his role in the civil rights
movement.
“All Americans can
feel the power of this
day,” Biden said at a
ceremony at the White
House, “and learn from
our history.”
That’s why the event in
Hermiston was so special
for several Black commu-
nity members. To them, it
was another small step
in an ongoing reckoning
with the nation’s past.
“At the fi rst Juneteenth,
they didn’t have much,”
said John Carbage, pres-
ident of the Hermiston
Cultural Awareness Coa-
lition, a nonprofi t group
that hosted Saturday’s
event. “So they took the
little bit they had and put
it all together, and made it
into an event, a festival.
So that’s what this is all
about. Taking a little and
making a lot.”
The day began with
a speech from Carbage
calling on residents to
remember why they were
there before they bowed
their heads in prayer. For
the rest of the day, resi-
dents from across East-
ern Oregon and Wash-
ington lounged in lawn
chairs and chatted at pic-
nic tables as the smell of
grilling hamburgers and
hot dogs fi lled the air. A
DJ played rap, pop, soul,
funk and R&B as children
played games nearby.
It was the second time
the coalition held a June-
teenth event. The fi rst
was two years ago, before
the pandemic halted last
year’s festivities. Carbage
said he hopes to make the
event an annual celebra-
tion in Hermiston.
Growing up in Arkan-
sas, Carbage has been
celebrating Juneteenth for
about 30 years. But none
of those celebrations, he
said, were as symbolic as
this one.
“This means we’re
not going unnoticed,”
Earl Wilson, a produc-
tion manager at Lamb
Weston, said of June-
teenth becoming a fed-
eral holiday. “Our people
meant something, and we
should be recognized for
it. We celebrate the Fourth
of July and Independence
Day. And we weren’t free
during that time. When
we were freed, we should
recognize that also.”
Though
Juneteenth
has garnered increased
national attention during
the past year amid the
protests against racial
injustice and police bru-
tality, many Americans
still know little about the
holiday, according to a
new Gallup survey.
The survey of ran-
domly-selected
partic-
ipants, released Tues-
day, June 15, showed
more than 60% of Amer-
icans know either “noth-
ing at all” or “a little bit”
about Juneteenth. It also
showed about 69% of
Black respondents said
they knew about June-
teenth, compared to 31%
of white respondents.
Carbage said he knew
little about Juneteenth
before he went to col-
lege. He attributes that to
growing up in Arkansas,
where his history classes
refrained from teaching
about race.
That’s why it’s essential
to bring people together on
days such as Juneteenth,
Carbage said, to promote
education.
The city of Hermiston has
reduced watering of its parks by
10% in response to a chlorine
shortage across four states.
Oregon Emergency Manage-
ment released a statement address-
ing the shortage, noting that equip-
ment failure at a plant in Longview,
Washington that supplies most
of the Northwest’s chlorine will
“temporarily limit the availability
of chlorine for cities on the West
Coast.”
Many cities use chlorine to dis-
infect their city’s tap water and
treat wastewater. According to
the American Chemistry Council,
98% of U.S. cities use some type
of chlorine disinfection process to
make their water safe to drink.
The malfunctioning plant,
Westlake Chemical, does not
anticipate being back online until
the end of June, OME stated, and
so the department is reaching out
to all municipal water suppliers
to assess the status of their chlo-
rine supply and see where supplies
need shared. According to Ore-
gon Public Broadcasting, some cit-
ies, including Medford and Forest
Grove, only have a two-week sup-
ply on hand.
On its Facebook page, the city
of Hermiston said it planned to
save about 150,000 gallons of
water by watering its properties
10% less, and encouraged resi-
dents to take their own steps to
reduce water use.
“We’re asking residents to be
similarly mindful of their own
water use as we monitor the situa-
tion,” the city wrote. “Every gallon
saved helps us conserve our cur-
rent chlorine supply.”
The city did note that it is still
operating the Hermiston Family
Aquatic Center.
According to Oregon Emer-
gency Management, cities with a
surplus of chlorine for their drink-
ing water will provide mutual aid
to cities with a shortage.
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