Juneteenth Celebrated Through Art, Music, Peace And Love

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — People of different cultures and races came together at Williams Park in downtown St. Petersburg on June 19 to celebrate Juneteenth, the ending of slavery in the United States.

Some of them gathered on blankets underneath trees at the park, while others worked on artwork that expressed Black Lives Matter.

A young white man who did not want to give his name to Patch painted red over the cowboys in a painting that showed them shooting Native Americans. The paint looked like blood dripping down on the cowboys.

He told Patch that he feels that the scene of cowboys amid violence is something that is carried over into 2020 with white police officers shooting black people as in the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta and Breonna Taylor in Kentucky.

This was the first protest that Kyle LaRose and his fiance, Sen Han attended. They held signs that read "I Stand With Black Lives Matter! End Racism. White Males Against Racism," and one that promoted equality for blacks, Asians, Hispanics and the LGBT community.

"To see all these people murdered by law enforcement breaks my heart," LaRose said as he cried and his fiance comforted him. "We need to have as many people vote in November as possible, and I'm tired of just sitting around and being quiet about this because it needs to be spoken out about. Black lives matter."

LaRose and Han understand the effects of oppression on a culture being members of the LGBT community having experienced it firsthand. Han is a native of China, and isn't used to being able to go out and protest in China, but he wanted to show his support with everything that he has seen happen with inequality and police brutality in the U.S.

"The reason I came to the U.S. besides to study is that I wanted equality," Han said. "That's why I chose to come here but right now I'm not seeing it. I'm seeing the separations, and this country is getting divided, and that's not what I chose here for."

Several vendors were at the event including a couple of voter registration booths. Steve Peeples, a voter registration leader said that now is an important time for every person to exercise their right to vote, and he feels that setting up a registration booth at peaceful protest events gives people who are new to St. Pete the opportunity to register.

Various musicians from St. Pete shared their talents at the event.

Joel Jadus, the singer and guitarist of Joel Jadus & Enter the Sun said he felt the calling to share his music of love, equality and positive messages at the Juneteenth event when he found out about it.

"I'm a part of the leadership of O.P.P. (Opressed People's Protest), and the holy spirit of the one love brought us all together, and this is a way for all of us to celebrate our differences," said Jadus.

He expressed that as someone who has experienced oppression through mental health that he wants to show support to the black community because oppression has to end for everyone.