Residents and Island visitors gathered Wednesday around the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs to recognize the raising of the Juneteenth flag.
A crowd of at least 50 gathered to hear from prominent Black leaders on the Island, including president of the NAACP on Martha’s Vineyard, Toni Kauffman.
“Today, I’m wearing a smile,” Kauffman told the crowd. “I just cannot express how wonderful it is to see all of you.”
Kauffman described Juneteenth as “our second Independence Day,” one that has long been celebrated by African Americans but had remained “largely unknown” until becoming a federal holiday in 2021.
“It’s a day of remembrance. It’s a day of celebration. It’s a day of commemoration,” Kauffman said about Juneteenth.
Kauffman shared that she recently discovered at least one of her ancestors had been a slave through a DNA test. “When looking at your own personal history, you’ll find it means even more,” she said of the holiday.
Vivian Santos-Smith, who just graduated from Howard University, was among the crowd outside the Tabernacle. She said black history has always been important to her, especially in her attendance at a historically Black college.
“Given the history of black people on the Island, specifically in the neighborhood of Oak Bluffs, I thought it would be important to go to a flag raising here,” Santos-Smith said.
After all speakers had concluded their remarks, members of the Martha’s Vineyard Campground Meeting Association’s Social Justice, Diversity and Inclusion Task Force went up to raise the flag.
Kim Jones, of the Task Force, said this year marked the official permanence of the Tabernacle’s Juneteenth flag raising tradition. She said the Task Force was a main proponent for this decision.
After the flag was raised, cheers and applause could be heard from the crowd. Families and friends were all gathered, almost everyone wearing a smile on their face.
After the brief ceremony, the crowd dispersed, exchanging hugs and laughs.
As a Black man and a former federal worker I am very disappointed that the basis of this becoming a widely celebrated and federally acknowledged holiday basically all comes down to a desperate attempt by the Biden administration and the Democratic Party to politically pander to a demographic that their past policies have failed. If you wanted to help us and celebrate our legacy as descendants of slaves you would shut the border, give us school choice and stop encouraging our women to abort our children at higher rates than any other demographic group. I’m not interested in debating white people about this either. Go have your opinion, this isn’t about you.
And as far as flags go… we are supposed to be the UNITED States. Everyone haven’t their own flag celebrating them is just a sign of the success of some people to have us be the divided people of America.
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