This week, Vice President Kamala Harris hosted a Juneteenth concert at the White House and Fort Worth’s own Opal Lee was front and center.
Lee, known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” joined Tony-winner Audra McDonald, Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson, and Wu-Tang Clan’s Method Man Tuesday in a concert on the South Lawn of the White House. Choirs and bands from historically Black colleges and universities also performed, including the Fisk Jubilee Singers, Hampton University Concert Choir, Morgan State University Marching Band, and Tennessee State University Marching Band.
The Vice President invited Lee to the microphone to share a few words as she opened the evening. “Make yourself a committee of one to change somebody’s mind,” she said to the crowd on the White House lawn. “If people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love.”
She also told them that it was “up to you to do it.”
“We must get together, and get rid of the disparities, the joblessness, the homelessness, the healthcare that some people can get and others can’t, and climate change that we are responsible for,” she said. “If we don’t do something about it, we are all going to hell in a handbasket!”
This weekend is the third national Juneteenth observation since President Joe Biden declared it a national holiday in 2021. Lee is known for leading the charge on making it a national holiday. She laced up her sneakers and walked to Washington D.C. to ask that her country officially recognize the holiday. Juneteenth has been celebrated first by formerly enslaved persons and then by their descendants as a way to commemorate June 19, 1865, the day the last enslaved people were told by Union soldiers in Galveston that they were free.
“So tonight, with joy, we gather with friends and generations of family members,” Harris said Tuesday, “We gather here at the White House, steps from where the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, to celebrate America’s newest national holiday.”
Harris said that the story of Juneteenth was a promise, but also a reminder to keep fighting.
“America is a promise — a promise of freedom, liberty, and justice. The story of Juneteenth, as we celebrate it, is the story of our ongoing fight to realize that promise — not for some, but for all,” she said. “On Juneteenth, we are also reminded of the duality of progress. As we fight to move forward to expand freedom, we must also fight to protect the freedoms already won. And as we know, we can take nothing for granted in that regard.”
The White House Juneteenth concert was part of a series of celebrations of Black Music Month, a statement explained.
See Lee’s appearance, and watch the concert below. Then find your own way to celebrate Juneteenth with our guide to this weekend and Monday’s events in North Texas.
Author
