 Happy Juneteenth! Juneteenth is the oldest national celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Today, Juneteenth commemorates African-American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement. I'm your host Sharon Thomas Yarbrough. Welcome and thank you for joining Sister Power. Well, welcome ladies to Sister Power. Thank you, Sharon. Aloha, thank you so much for joining the show and talking about Juneteenth and this is such a very, very busy weekend and we wanted to say Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there as well. Yes. Yes. Happy Father's Day. Happy Father's Day. Yeah, absolutely. And so, let's just start taking people down and educating them and inspiring them about celebrating Juneteenth and what is Juneteenth? Well, hi, thank you for having us today, Sharon. And you know, let me just start over because I did not introduce my guest and I don't know what happened with that but I want to introduce to you Sister Power guest and we have for I guess Dr. Marcia Howard and Dr. Deborah Murray and Dr. Howard is a special education teacher who has taught students for over 23 years with disabilities, am I correct? Correct. And her love of travel and education has taken her to many countries such as France and South Africa and Belgium and many other places and then we have the lovely very lovely Deborah Murray is a passionate pastor, preacher teacher, offer and leadership consultant and Dr. Murray is the president of Simple Strategies for Success and this is a nonprofit organization, am I correct? And is devoted to skill building, counseling and micro business development for women with children living in impoverished areas around the world. And so we'll start again. Welcome to Sister Power. Thank you, Sharon. I said we're just sitting here and I haven't told the audience who I got. Okay, and let's just tell the viewers from all over the world, what is Juneteenth? Yes, I think just to reiterate what you said in the opening that Juneteenth is the oldest celebrated day that slavery was actually ended from what we know during the Emancipation Proclamation that was stated in September but enacted not until January 1st of 1863 the slaves were set free. However, in Texas, in Galveston, Texas, the slaves were not notified that they had indeed been set free two years prior and so they were left to do the free manual labor of their masters not knowing that they had actually achieved freedom. So how long did you say they had been freed before? They had not been freed for the two years. Two years, that's a good point. So the proclamation came? Yes. Two years prior. Two years prior. But they were still working. They were still working for their masters and so the theory was brought up. Why hadn't these people found out that they were free? And some of the theories that I researched was perhaps one person who was designated to tell them of the good news had been murdered on the way to tell the people of Galveston. The other theory was that the news was deliberately withheld from them so that they can continue providing free labor for their masters and being in subservient positions. And then the third theory was that they wanted to hold the slaves for the one last cotton harvest that was coming in and didn't want to interrupt that service for them. So there were theories as to why didn't these specific people in Texas at the time hear the news that everyone else had heard two years prior. So Juneteenth is now we commemorate that day that the slaves were then told and that was the final ending of slavery in the United States. So Texas deemed the holiday worthy of statewide recognition in 1980. So that was the first state? Yes, to commemorate. Yes, and since then other states have taken up that observation except five states that we know of. And what five states? From what I read the five states were Hawaii, sadly, Montana, North and South Dakota. And oh there's one more state that I can't remember. Montana. So yeah that would be the five. Okay, right. Well why should we celebrate Juneteenth and Marcia? How is it celebrated? Deborah, tell us about that. Thank you Marcia. No problem. What is Juneteenth? No problem. So now why should we celebrate it, Deborah? Well we should celebrate it because we're free. Okay. Yeah, and to add on to that I think the fact that it is a commemoration of what the mindset of slave owners and those who had the power at the time continue to think that human labor was warranted by Africans and African Americans. So I think we need to commemorate that indeed we are free and that we deserve to be free and that we have inalienable rights that we're giving to us as human beings. Yeah, so when I was talking about us being free oftentimes we take this freedom for granted. And so when we sit with this moment of Juneteenth and reflect on a time when we as a people could not have freedom of expression. We didn't have control or agency of our own bodies. People thought for us instead of us having the ability to think for ourselves. And so now I can sit here on television. Oh my goodness, my ancestors. My ancestors are rejoicing because this is a day they hoped for. Some died never receiving this promise that they would be free. And so we celebrate reflecting and remembering that many gave their lives for this freedom that you and me and you can enjoy. Yeah, and that that is such a rejoicing moment that we're sitting here today not one, but two, three African American queens and we're able to tell our stories. Yes. You know it's awesome. Marcia has her PhD? Yes, I have a PhD in special education from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa in exceptionalities. So I am blessed to have and carry one of the no the highest degree in the land in the United States and across the world. Wow, yeah. So there's nowhere to go after you receive your doctorate. You can just get other doctorates. You can get more. So when I think about my sister telling me that she was a sharecropper and she's not that old, but my mother and my father were sharecroppers. I mean they picked cotton and she had a little cotton sack as a child. And to think that my four parents didn't have this opportunity. So when I graduated and received my doctorate, I received it in honor of that. Absolutely. I felt each and every one of them rejoicing. I recently went to Africa and as I was there I stood up and I preached in a church and I felt a full circle of coming home, you know, because they always wanted to come home to come back to Africa and they didn't get a chance and there I was standing there as someone who had been taken and now home and with all of this freedom and these liberties and education making them proud. Back to the motherland. Yeah, that is awesome. What a story and you're going to just lead us into the Emancipation Proclamation. Yes, so one this day around the world people celebrate and before they celebrate, they listen to the Emancipation Proclamation and they listen to what's considered general order number three and the Emancipation Proclamation is pretty lengthy. But I just want to connect you with the words, a few words, that Abraham Lincoln said. So Abraham Lincoln said that the executive will on the first day of January after said by proclamation designates the states and parts of the states and any and which the people thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion against the United States and the fact that any state or the people thereof shall on that day be in good faith represented in Congress of the United States by the members chosen there to add elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such state have participated and that was important because now we had an executive order by the president and he said this as the commander-in-chief over the war but it had to be ratified through Congress and so you know that's another reason to celebrate is because we know it's not always easy to get unification of you know our system so Congress actually ratified it as well and Abraham Lincoln says by virtue of the power in me vested as commander-in-chief of the army a navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and the government of the United States proclamation and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing this rebellion therefore on this first day in January in the year of our lord 1863 in accordance with my purpose I do publicly proclaim for the full period from this day above mentioned an order that designates freedom freedom and we're going to talk more about Juneteenth celebration when we come back tired of sleepwalking through life are you dreaming of a healthier wealthier happier you you're not alone and that's why thousands of people tune in each week to watch rb kelly on out of the comfort zone tuesdays at one p.m make a change get the help you need and stop sucking at life hello it's 1 p.m on a tuesday afternoon and i'm your host rb kelly welcome to out of the comfort zone i'm andrea gabrielli i'm the host for young talents making way here on think tech hawaii we talk every tuesday at 11 a.m about things that matters to tech matter to science to the people of hawaii with some extraordinary guests the students of our schools who are participating in science fair so young talents making way every tuesday at 11 a.m only on think tech hawaii mahalo Dave stevens host of the cyber underground this is where we discuss everything that relates to computers that just kind of scare you out of your mind so come join us every week here on thinktechawaii.com 1 p.m on friday afternoons and then you can go see all our episodes on youtube just look up the cyber underground on youtube all our shows will show up and please follow us we're always giving you current relevant information to protect you keeping you safe welcome back to juneteenth and my special guest is dr deborah murray and dr marcier howard and we're talking about the juneteenth celebration and deborah how do we continue the legacy and before you answer that what is the significance in 2018 let's talk about the significance of juneteenth in 2018 oh wow do you want me to go first or do you remember either one of you either one of you before you share i will just want to say that when juneteenth was happening years ago when the people first found out how they were commemorated is they would have barbecues they would have rodeos they would cook their best foods and present it to the community where it was just like gathering where people would come and hear about the stories just like you shared about your sister and your mom and dad and then just one thing that really stood out to me was how they used to take off of their their old racks and their old clothes and throw them into the lake and get the new clothes most of what the old masters had left because a lot of them fled the south now that the blacks were free because there was no one to do their labor so they lost a lot of money and had to you know gather up their things and leave and so the slaves were done the master's clothing the finest threads and have this big elaborate picnic and that's what they still do today yeah and and and we're celebrating and i'm so excited that hanelulu havae is is celebrating they're all type of various juneteenth celebrations because we have parades and concerts and storytelling and i know that there is a special juneteenth celebration at capiolani park yeah and it's by the popola project and it's entitled get free and it's saturday june 16th at capiolani park for an afternoon of music and cultural art from across the african diaspora it bring your ohana they want you to bring your grill and it is kids friendly and and you and there's a picture of it right there get free juneteenth 2018 at capiolani park and it's going to be at the picnic area seven dressed across from kamaena kamaena beach right from one to five p.m and they're having drumming and dancing and tell us about your organization that you started yes um marcia seawafade west african dancing and drumming will participate in the juneteenth celebrations we will be at trinity baptist church uh performing at three o'clock we're live african drumming and dancing so we're excited about that but trinity will have um gains and festivities starting at 12 o'clock or until five p.m i believe whoo yeah so it's a lot to saturday i'm excited one of the reasons why that's really significant is because after the proclamation was enacted the jim crow laws came up and one of the things that happened in the jim crow laws was that blacks people of african descent could not congregate in public places right and so this reclaiming of the public place this reclaiming of the park a place that if you were even seen in the park that you could be arrested you know you could be beaten so these celebrations are important to have in public places because it also represents i'm free i really am free and you know i'm glad you did bring that up because we were discussing earlier doing the break that you were saying that people were arrested you know celebrating the juneteenth and unfortunately we have something similar to that going on right now that people are calling the police on us um for we were talking about it marcia just being there just by being there and so it seems that we are regressing tremendously where we have this freedom because of the emancipation proclamation but years now here we are in 2018 and you know african americans can't meet at corphy houses we can't have barbecues in the park we can't go to air bmbs uh we can't it just seems like we are regressing to where being african american is just another big target where we can't escape just being just being just being just being just being who we are and doing what we do and so there has to be a coming together and a commemoration of again what did we go through um what can we do to make it better how can we continue to strive for the betterment of not just african americans but all of those that are being marginalized last month there was a man who berated a hispanic woman for speaking in a deli because he didn't understand and so we're seeing that not just against african americans but sadly just against people of color brown people brown people and black people and you know before we get started i know that the we would have we have a point but before we move forward the hontalulu african american film festival we are having something for juneteenth and it's jewels catch one and i wanted to put that out there for everyone to please come and maybe there's a later on we'll we'll show jewels catch one and there it is on the screen it is saturday june 16 7 30 p.m with june thai as williams at the doors duke theater and this is one woman one city no fear for 42 years and why this is so important because we're talking about how people are marginalized jewels catch one um this timely documentary distributed by ava duvarnay's array releasing chronicles the country's oldest black owned disco in the legacy of business woman activist and healer and this was the place that anyone you know any whoever you whoever you may be no matter what color uh your gender you could come and get your party on so that's going to be saturday night at the adores duke theater and we want everyone to please come out and support that awesome and there was one more uh show monday yes at the yes at the manoa theater at the manoa valley theater although uh direct flying west flying west pearl yes pearl cliyaj i can't remember her last her name is pearl look at the manoa valley a theater web page it is on monday yes 7 30 and it's discussing about the blacks uh our african americans who were traveling west to kansas kansas and we're giving homestead yes we're giving homestead land it's a six person show i believe so if you can come out to manoa valley theater to support the sister that would be great yeah just come out and i think we have a a poem that you would like to share yeah so this poem is by robert hayden and it's called run a gate run a gate and i'm just going to read this section because again after the slaves were freed many of them uh wanted to find their families that were in neighboring counties or neighboring states and a lot of them were free but didn't know what to do with that freedom you know they had been forbidden to read to write to travel and so now with this freedom they wanted to find their families so in this form i think you just made an important point that it is thought that sometimes families were together and that's they were not together they were sold off yes and so in this poem by robert um robert hayden run a gate run a gate it says no more auction blocks for me no more drivers last for me if you see my pompe 30 years of age new breaches plain stockings needle shoes and if you see my anna likely young mulatto branded e on her right cheek and are on the left catch them if you can and notify subscriber catch them if you can but it won't be easy they'll dart underground and when you try to catch them and plunge into quicksand whirlpool mazes turn into scorpions when you try to catch them and before i'll be a slave i'll be buried in my grave so this just commemorates that when the slaves were free they tried to get to the northern line to join the union armies to be free and to gather their people together to be a family once again and i love that and and dr murray just give us some motivating and inspiring and educate our people and to let them know this is a time to celebrate yeah you know we've got you know a couple of minutes left and we want to leave our people with number one we have an event get free at copy aline park from one to five definitely come out there and is we have one at trinity from 12 to 12 12 at 3 o'clock right and then we have to end the evening we have jules catch one at the honolulu museum of arts doors duke theater and it's been put on by the honolulu african-american film festival but just lead us out you know you have a minute you have a minute and then we'll close i just like to say um this is another reading that used to be read and it's called we rose from africa's heart we rose already a people our feet our faces ebon our bodies lean we rose skills of art life beauty and family crushed by forces we knew nothing of but we rose survive we must and we do we rose we rose to be you we rose to be me and above everything expected we roll yes yes to become the knowledge we never knew we rose dream act we did act we must so that we all can rise hallelujah awesome awesome i am just a blessed to be in today's world of living where i can see our first african-american president where we can see many african-americans becoming congress members senators we just had the first african-american mayor yeah california yeah london breed and so we just have to keep going as this poem says we rose and we are still rising yes yes i love that and i'm so thrilled that dr murray is here with us and dr marcia howard thank you thank you so much for joining this was an awesome opportunity i'm so thrilled i'm so very overjoyed right now thank you and we want to leave the audience please come and please celebrate and come learn about it if you don't know anything about you yeah these would be good places to learn about bring your family bring your children yes and on that note oceans of aloha peace and love