Letter: Thank you to the volunteers for Grafton’s Juneteeth
Dear Grafton neighbors,
On behalf of my family, I would like to thank the Juneteenth subcommittee of Grafton RISE (Racial Inclusion and Social Equity) for an amazing first town commemoration of this new federal holiday. As you may know, Juneteenth or “Freedom Day” is the commemoration of June 19, 1865 when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to finally bring word of the end of the Slavery in the United States. This was more than two years after the signing of the Emancipation Declaration. The holiday has been celebrated for years by many Americans but a large movement to make it federal holiday happened after the murders of African-Americans including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Grafton RISE brought an article to Town Meeting to ask our community to join in the observance of this commemoration while the movement to have this be a Massachusetts state holiday was also happening. It passed with overwhelming support and this year was the first year to have a town-wide community commemoration.
Our family was fortunate to celebrate both Father’s Day and a birthday while attending this amazingly meaningful event. The event was made possible with funding from the Grafton Cultural Council and the time and effort of the Junteenth subcommittee. In particular, I would like to thank: Amar Clark, Carolyn Tay, Daniel Gregoire, Laura Ort Often, Lee Sweeney Hume, Lisa Krissoff Boehm, Lyric Baker and Anthony Triggs. I would also like to thank Town of Grafton employees and many members of the Select Board and the School Committee that attended. There were also numerous day-of event volunteers: Jen Vacca, Cathay DePaolo, Rachel Gerstein, Hayley Arndt, Gina Lavallee, Stephen Crowley, Victoria Duckworth, Beth Schreiber, Cherilyn Reno, and Andy Jefferson (shout out to this SB Member who goes above and beyond!). I am sure there are people that I am forgetting (sorry!) but my point is that many people came together to make this first commemoration a true community event of neighbors working together.
The event included an art installation called UNITY which demonstrated the interconnectedness of our similarities and differences and it will be up at Mill Village Park until the end of June and is lit at night. If you get a chance to take a walk there during the day and stand under the web, it is truly a moving experience. There was a black board that served as an open community written dialogue and exploration of the different aspects of participants’ life experiences and complex identities that you could read. I was very sad to miss the speakers that happened earlier than our arrival but I heard that Minister Daniel Gregoire of the Universalist Unitarian Society of Grafton was amazing and that there were other speakers as well. In addition to these events, there was a family-friendly scavenger hunt to learn more about Juneteenth and there were various arts and crafts as well as a traditional tea. There was also the raising of the Juneteenth flag alongside the State and US Flags in a marking of the day. It truly was an event that activated both the heart and the mind. As a citizen of Grafton, I am so grateful for the ability to live in a place where many people came together to make a difference and make this experience possible. Thank you so much to everyone that gave of their time and effort to make it possible and for those who came to participate. As my partner stated, “I cannot imagine a better event to attend on Father’s Day.” It was a great way to come together for us as a family and build a new memory for our children.
Julie Feeney
