Juneteenth Meeting Spawns Ideas, Plans for Future

Elizabeth Williams
Mirror contributing writer

   Despite an AWOL mayor, rows of empty seats, and trays of uneaten food, LaVerne Ross seemed completely unfazed.
   In a vibrant orange print dress and a pair of headphones to aid her hearing, Ross, the chairwoman and founder of Santa Monica’s Juneteenth celebration, led the show at the “Tenth Annual Juneteenth Celebration and First Leadership and Planning Brunch: Knitting the Community and Families Together” at the Thelma Terry Center in Virginia Avenue Park last Saturday.
   The Juneteenth celebration, which has traditionally been a public event celebrating the freeing of slaves in the United States, was limited to a brunch for invited guests this year in an effort to organize planning committees for larger Juneteenth celebrations in the future.
   “We decided that we wanted to go on a wider scale,” Ross said. She added that the brunch was an attempt to “use a diverse cross section of ideas” for future events.
   The gathering also served as a forum for remembering the past, and improving the lives of African-Americans in Santa Monica through community discussion and support.
   “Juneteenth today celebrates African-American freedom while encouraging self development … and respect for all cultures,” said former Santa Monica mayor, Nathaniel Trives, “If you think about the spirit of the day, it’s not ethnic … All we’re doing is saying that a group of people in our society were freed. But the problem is, were they really freed?”
   Trives, who was the event’s keynote speaker, discussed everything from Lincoln’s motivation for freeing the slaves to the importance of making sure the African-American community is adequately represented in City government.
   “Every board in the city had a person of color on it when I was mayor,” Trives said. “It meant something to us to share the power at the table.”
   Dr. Dorothy Ehrhart-Morrison, a member of the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees, seconded Trives’ statements by outlining ways members of the community could get involved in the government.
   “I love Santa Monica—all of us love Santa Monica—but just because we’re a small percentage doesn’t mean we [should] get lost in the shuffle,” Ehrhart-Morrison said.
   Each speaker touched upon the need for community involvement and united action, and even the location of the brunch served to emphasize this idea.
   The Thelma Terry Center was the first venue in Santa Monica to be named after an African-American. Terry, who passed away in 1979, had dedicated her life to creating community programs which were later adopted by Santa Monica’s Community and Cultural Services.
   “I was just a baby when Ms. Terry was here, but her legacy lives on, and thank God for that,” said Robbie Jones, a resident of Santa Monica and one of the event’s organizers.
   While only about 40 of the 150 invited guests attended the Juneteenth celebration in Santa Monica this year, and the absence Santa Monica Mayor Mike Feinstein — who was scheduled to speak at the event — was an unexpected surprise for organizers, most of those in attendance agreed to participate in planning for next year’s Juneteenth celebration.
   “They’d hoped for a lot of people. [But] as far as the people that showed up, and the things people said, it was absolutely phenomenal,” said Flo Benjamin, the President of African-American Parent Associations at two local schools. “I think this was a very productive meeting.”
   Juneteenth, which Santa Monica officially declared a holiday this year, is celebrated in many areas of the United States. Texas was the first state to officially recognize the holiday in 1980.