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By Linda Parker Pennington

The Fillmore Community Ambassadors held its first annual Juneteenth Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards ceremony on June 19 inside the newly reopened Fillmore Heritage Center.

The event featured awards for former San Francisco mayors London Breed and Willie Brown, along with Third Baptist Church Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown.

The Koret Heritage lobby at the newly reopened center at 1330 Fillmore St. held a standing-room-only, culturally diverse and multi-generational audience while the art gallery featured photos of Fillmore community members in action, red Japanese lanterns, art and calligraphy, and Chinese artwork, giving the space a multicultural feel.

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood acknowledged that “the Fillmore community has had a difficult history. Thanks to Rev. Amos Brown’s continuous focus on accountability and resistance, you hold us accountable and continue to inspire us.”

Mahmoud is referring to the Fillmore’s Japanese residents who were forced from their homes and sent to concentration camps during World War II. Black people occupied those homes until the return of their Japanese neighbors and then gave them back, while homes that had been unoccupied were lost. The presence of the Asian community on Juneteenth is a testament to that shared history.

In receiving his honor, Amos Brown elicited a powerful spontaneous call-and-response, where members of San Francisco’s many Black churches proudly shouted out the names: “Bethel AME! Providence Baptist! Jones Memorial! Glide!”

Awards program Master of Ceremonies Shawn Richards of Brothers Against Guns warmly introduced Breed, highlighting her many accomplishments, particularly on “March 16, 2020, when she became the first mayor to shut down a major U.S. city due to COVID-19, saving thousands of lives.”

The audience was captivated by Breed’s emotional speech touching on past traumas, present conditions, and future hopes for the neighborhood where she grew up.

She recalled another trauma of the neighborhood during the City’s redevelopment era in the 1960s, where Black residents were forced to move with a promise of being able to return that was largely unfulfilled.

“We remember when this land was just a field because they bulldozed hundreds of Victorian homes that Black people owned. They built the Fillmore Center, where most Black people can’t afford to live or start their own business. But we are still here.”

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By Mike Aldax, The Richmond Standard

The streets of Richmond filled with music, dancing, and community pride on June 20 for the annual Juneteenth Family Day Celebration. The event has been a local tradition for more 40 years, bringing thousands of neighbors together to celebrate freedom, honor local heroes, and enjoy a full day of food, music, and community activities.

The day started with a lively parade led by the Richmond High School Marching Band and Color Guard, who kept a strong beat as they moved down 37th Street. The parade passed right under the Juneteenth Freedom mural before turning onto Macdonald Avenue and finishing at Nicholl Park. The streets were lined with cheering crowds watching lowrider cars, muscle bikes, and police motorcycles pass by.

Many local leaders, students, and city groups marched in the parade. This included Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia, the Richmond City Council, Police Chief Timothy Simmons, and Fire Chief Aaron Osorio alongside the Richmond Youth Fire Academy. West Contra Costa Unified School District Superintendent Cheryl Cotton was spotted dancing to the live entertainment, which included headliner Jon B.

About a dozen employees from Chevron, a long-time sponsor of the event, cheered along the route in matching blue shirts. Students from Leadership Public School Richmond, West County Mandarin School, and E.M. Downer Elementary School also marched to represent local youth. Local youth dance groups like the Warriorz of Wisdom performed for the audience.

After the parade, Nicholl Park turned into a large festival with live music and a wide variety of local foods and other vendors.

Honoring Richmond heroes

A major highlight of the day was the ceremony to induct local heroes into the Richmond Juneteenth Hall of Fame and honor the event’s first-ever youth Royal Court. The awards were presented by Michelle Milam, the City of Richmond’s crime prevention manager and a main organizer of the celebration.

This year’s adult Grand Marshals were long-time Iron Triangle cartoonist and neighborhood advocate Fred Franklin, and Marena Brown, the executive director of the Contra Costa Youth Service Bureau and president of the Shields-Reid Neighborhood Council. Joe Fisher Sr. received the Lifetime of Service Award for his long history of helping the city.

For the first time, the committee named two teenagers as Youth Grand Marshals: Ivan, a dancer and content creator with over 133,000 Instagram followers, and Xa’viar Bennett, a student leader who helps young women build self-esteem through her non-profit, Melanin Unlimited, and her app, HERPower.

The ceremony also took time to remember beloved community members who recently passed away, inducting them posthumously into the Hall of Fame. These honorees included Abigail Sims, a dedicated literacy teacher who spent many years volunteering at the city services tent, and Jose Davis, a facilities maintenance worker who took great pride in keeping city buildings clean for over 30 years, even coming to work while fighting cancer. They were honored alongside Lydia A. Stewart, a trusted community leader known for taking care of local families and supporting them through times of grief and loss.

Community resources and support

The Juneteenth festival also served as a helpful space for neighbors to connect with local organizations. Dozens of groups set up tables to offer information, resources, and health services. Some of these included Lifelong Medical Care, Freedom Wellness, the Richmond Shoreline Alliance, the Richmond Rotary Club, the League of Women Voters of West Contra Costa County, the Pullman Neighborhood Council, and the local NAACP branch, whose members wore shirts marking their founding year in 1909.

Local crafters sold handmade items along the pathways, including cultural bags and jewelry, custom crochet items from Illistine’s Boutique, and fragrance oils from Queen’s Aromas. The Richmond Fire Department and Fire Academy also set up a popular booth featuring a pull-up bar challenge for kids.

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