June 19 will mark 157 years since thefirst celebration of Juneteenth. The holiday celebrates when U.S. Army General Gordon Granger issued a legal decree that forced Texas to abide by the Emancipation Proclamation, which had been signed two and half years earlier.
To mark the holiday, the Monterey-based non-profit Juneteenth Coalition will host several events in the city of Monterey through June 19.
Terrel Maddox leads the Juneteenth Coalition. He prefers to go by Maddox. He says Juneteenth means a lot to him personally.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Terrel Maddox (TM): I'm a direct descendant of an enslaved American, and I think that it always speaks to oppressiveness and oppression but also liberation all in one breath. And for me, it always represents a striving for something better and incremental success and incremental wins.
Jonathan Linden (JL): Your group, the Juneteenth Coalition, will be hosting what you're calling the Juneteenth Journey. Can you give me a quick overview of the events that you all will be hosting as part of that journey?
(TM): Juneteenth Journey has three main parts. It has our Juneteenth Film festival that will be happening at the Monterey History and Art Museum, Stanton Center. That happens from Wednesday the 14th until Sunday the 18th. On the 17th, we have our sneaker ball fundraiser… (a) fundraiser to raise money for Obsidian, our youth golf club and academy. And the third aspect is Scatter Feast, which is our longtable farm-to-table dinner that we do commemorating the scatter, which is the time after Juneteenth and after the slaves were freed. And our Juneteenth Journey is for everyone. It highlights the African diaspora, but it is for our entire community. So whoever you are, whatever your color or creed or gender or pronouns or whatever it is, you are not only invited, you're extremely welcome to participate with us.
(JL): When growing up, Maddox was Juneteenth like a holiday you were aware of, and that was significant to you personally?
(TM): So when I was growing up, there were Juneteenth holiday or Juneteenth celebrations and barbecues. But as a kid, it's summertime. There's a barbecue every 10 minutes. So I really didn't understand what it was. I didn't really understand why there was, you know, as a kid, you'd think there's just this boring ceremony before we can start eating. And I didn't really understand that at the time, but I'm glad that those things were there and I was able to reach back and ask my mother about them. So in hindsight, they have far more significance to me than they did when I was actually participating as a 15-year-old, 14-year-old kid.
(JL): So yeah, that kind of reiterates, well, this holiday is new to some people. For a lot of people in the Black community, this is something that they've been celebrating for a very long time.
(TM): Yeah, it's been something that's been weaved into the fabric of that of those enslaved Americans and something that's always been a point of jubilee. And just now because of because of the last few years and all the civil unrest, I think it's kind of kind of unearthed the idea of it. And now everyone, all Americans can participate. And I think it adds a little bit of a little bit of gravity to to Fourth of July. It makes me feel like even more of an American because I've already done Juneteenth.