[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 100 (Monday, June 13, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2908-S2909]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MORNING BUSINESS

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           50TH ANNIVERSARY OF JUNETEENTH IN PORTLAND, OREGON

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, Senator Merkley and I wish to recognize the 
50th anniversary of the Juneteenth Oregon Celebration in our hometown 
of Portland, OR. Every year on June 19, people in Portland and across 
the State of Oregon and the Nation join together to celebrate when, on 
June 19, 1865, more than 250,000 enslaved people in Texas were finally 
declared free more than 2 years after the signing of the Emancipation 
Proclamation. Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom and recognition 
that emancipation was delayed for many enslaved people even after the 
Civil War was over. This day is among the most important days of 
commemoration in our Nation.
  The Juneteenth celebration was brought to Oregon in 1945 by the late 
and beloved community leader Clara Peoples. She led the first-ever 
Juneteenth celebration in Oregon at work. When her supervisor told her 
that if the celebration ran over 15 minutes she would be fired, she 
announced to her coworkers, ``Hear ye, hear ye. It's Juneteenth. We 
have 15 minutes to celebrate.'' Thanks to Clara's tireless efforts in 
the community and her work to create the nonprofit organization 
Juneteenth OR, the first official citywide celebration of Juneteenth 
occurred 50 years ago on June 19, 1972--and is today celebrated with a 
parade and other festivities like delicious food, art and live music.
  Clara Peoples continued fighting for her community by lobbying at all 
levels of government to make Juneteenth a recognized holiday on the 
State and national level. While, sadly, Clara did not live to see her 
efforts realized, she clearly paved the way for Juneteenth to at long 
last be declared a Federal holiday and a State holiday in Oregon. 
Today, we remember and honor her as, in the words of the Rev. Dr. 
Ronald Myers, ``the mother of Juneteenth.''
  Soon after Clara Peoples passed away in 2015, her granddaughters 
Jenelle Jack and Jynnefer Robinson took over as leaders of Juneteenth 
OR. Jenelle and Jynnefer continue to champion this special and 
important event, creating and coordinating online celebrations for 2 
years during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. They even sent Oregon's 
candidate for last year's Miss Juneteenth, Aceia Spade from Eugene, OR, 
to Galveston, TX, where she was crowned National Miss Juneteenth Queen. 
It was through Jenelle and Jynnefer's efforts--and the efforts of the 
dedicated staff and volunteers of Juneteenth OR--that Portlanders and 
Oregonians across the State will once again be able to celebrate 
Juneteenth in person this year. We look forward to another Clara 
Peoples Freedom Trail Parade this year, as well as another Miss 
Juneteenth competition where young Black women will have the 
opportunity to showcase who they are, their talents, and their 
confidence.
  While celebrating a victory in the fight to keep the film ``Birth of 
a Nation,'' which celebrated the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan, from 
being played in Portland, another Oregon hero and notable civil rights 
advocate Beatrice Morrow Cannady said, ``human rights, the greatest of 
all rights, and human happiness once again triumphed.'' So we want to 
say that when enslaved people in Texas finally learned that they were 
free, human rights and human happiness triumphed. When Juneteenth 
became a citywide celebration in Portland 50 years ago, human rights 
and human happiness triumphed. When Juneteenth became a national 
holiday in 2021, human rights and human happiness triumphed. And now, 
on the 50th anniversary of Portland's first Juneteenth and the first 
time that Oregon has recognized this important day as a State holiday, 
human rights and human happiness have triumphed.
  Juneteenth is an opportunity to celebrate the emancipation of Black 
Americans and progress made in the fight for human rights and human 
happiness. It is also a reminder, however, that the fight for true 
equity for all Americans is far from over. Together, we must

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press forward and never stop until all are equal.

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