Vallejo passes Juneteenth assignment

Clarence Martin woke up Saturday morning knowing exactly what his weekend mission was. All one had to do was read his T-shirt.

"Dear Ancestors - I understood the assignment."

The assignment? To educate and make others aware that it was Juneteenth, and to enjoy the festivities in Vallejo to honor the event that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.

"What this means for me personally is to remember the sacrifices that our ancestors have made to get to this point today," Martin said. "Had social media been around back when slavery was ended, we wouldn't have a Juneteenth. So the thing to make sure is that we continue to have a Juneteenth and that history doesn't repeat itself."

Martin was one of hundreds enjoying Vallejo's fourth annual Juneteenth Parade and 35th annual festival at the waterfront and Barbara Kondylis Waterfront Green. Saturday's event featured approximately 90 vendors and a stage full of music and entertainment.

Angela and James Freeman, who have been coming to the festival for years, were once again decked out in colorful clothing while sitting in lawnchairs.

"We like the vendors and all the people out here celebrating Juneteenth," Angela said. "We like the music and everything in the parade. That's why we come out every year."

Angela's favorite part?

"The cars," Angela said, without hesitation.

"At the end of the day, we're all family," James Freeman said. "That's what counts the most. It's more important this year. It's more important, but as I said, this gives the opportunity for the community to come together and celebrate history."

Earlier in the day, Martin had similar feelings.

"The norm should be that everyone is saying, 'Happy Juneteenth' no matter what culture you come from," Martin said. "It's all about community and solidarity between everybody. Not just African Americans, but everybody. If Juneteenth goes away, then we all suffer."

The parade started out just after 9 a.m. at the corner of Tennessee Street and Sonoma Boulevard, where dignitaries like Solano County Supervisor Cassandra James, Vallejo City Councilmember Dr. Tonia Lediju and city council candidates Tara Beasley-Stansberry and Brianna Rogers rode off in cars.

"This is tradition continuing and sharing culture with Vallejo," James said. "I take much pride in Vallejo and Solano hosting this. Vallejo and Solano County, we take pride in being one of the most diverse areas in the nation. We love celebrating each other's culture, and each other's tradition, and this parade is showcasing to the region and the world that we take pride in everyone that lives here."

Lediju agreed.

"It's a kind reminder of our freedom and a kind reminder of how our ancestors sacrificed for this time and this day, and it reminds me about my responsibility concerning that freedom," Lediju said. "It's a reminder that it took another two years for over 250,000 in Texas to know they were free. It's a reminder that when justice is fought for, oftentimes justice is delayed by our system."

Lediju said she was looking forward to "a gathering of community."

"Not just the Black community, but being in a city that is one of the most diverse in the nation and being able to celebrate that," Lediju said.

Also trying to pump people up on Sonoma Boulevard and later Virginia Street during the parade was recent Jesse Bethel High School graduate and longtime advocate with a yearly toy drive, Mesai Alonsabe-Davis.

"This march is not only a statement for the Black community, but it is impacting all the community to come together and show that we are Black and we are proud," Alonsabe-Davis. "That is what we live for. That is what we dream of, to become successful Black people."

The parade continued with a demonstration from Soaring Eagles Taekwondo, ELITE Cheer Team, Lady Leopard Cheer Team, and many, many more while the event was MC'd by Cortez Quinn and his booming voice.

Staking out good seats on Virginia Street was the Thomas family, consisting of Lionel, Lavonne, and Darla.

"It's a celebration of life and what we have accomplished, and that's a beautiful thing," Lionel said.

The holiday's name, first used in the 1890s, refers to June 19, 1865, the day when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the American Civil War. In January 1865, Congress proposed the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution for the national abolition of slavery.

However, not everyone got the news right away.

"There were some people in Texas who didn't know they were free for two years," Vallejo NAACP President Patricia Hunter said.

Hunter attended Late Night Basketball at ELITE High on Friday night, and she said one of the important things about the event was that upon leaving, all the kids had to say something they learned about Juneteenth. Hunter was on hand at the start of the parade Saturday morning, but spent the majority of the day helping out the Red Cross with a blood drive at the Vallejo Room in the JFK Library.

'We've had a good response here today," Hunter said. "We've had about 30 people (around noon), and we think we are going to break our goal of 42 people. This is our inaugural year having a blood drive at Juneteenth, but we want to make it an annual thing."

President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law on June 17, 2021, the first federal holiday recognized in the United States since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was adopted in 1983.

However, President Trump issued Executive Order 14253, directing the Department of the Interior to review historical materials and exhibits at national parks and museums, and aimed to remove content deemed to "inappropriately disparage" America and criticized specific venues.

James said that due to this political climate, Juneteenth feels different in 2026.

"It does. You have people who are committed to dismantling or silencing voices that are different from their own," James said. "Especially when we look at Washington, D.C., with the White House being built by those who were enslaved. You have people living in a house built by slaves, and then they want to silence that history and want to change that history. We need to acknowledge our history, whether it's good, bad, or ugly. So this year, we take a little more pride in standing on resilience and understanding we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors who had every right to give up but chose not to. So I'm leaning into that energy of not giving up and continuing to fight for their community."

At the festival on the waterfront, many booths were aimed at educating people of all ages about Black History, including the booth for the organization, "Love the Skin You're In, Inc."

"My favorite part of today is seeing more than 90 vendors sharing culture, unity, diversity, and freedom," Love the Skin You're In, Inc. founder Loretta Gaddies said. "Seeing people come together, laughing with each other, enjoying each other. It tells us we can continue to fight the good fight. Racism is still out there, so we have to continue to build unity and strength, so when political climates like this happen, the community binds together to climb over those hurdles together."

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.