Annual event remembers end of slavery & unity
“I’ve got to admit, I never heard of Juneteenth growing up.”
That was the confession of Highlands Councilman Tyrone King on Saturday morning as he hosted the community’s fourth annual Airman Laura Lanier Juneteenth march and ceremony in Memorial Park. He spoke of how it was Lanier, the daughter of Highland Falls’ Matt and Bertha Lanier, who, after time spent in Texas while in the Air Force, learned about the holiday and brought back to her hometown the idea of a celebration here. She passed away several years ago, King said, and noted that he wanted to make sure that her idea for a celebration here was continued, as well as her legacy lived on. Lanier was the “very best friend” of one of King’s sisters.
“Laura was very determined that we recognize Juneteenth here,” King said. “She was determined to make this a celebration. We cannot forget Laura Lanier, nor this dream she had for this community.”
Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States, on June 19, 1865 (two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation). Forty-six states, including New York, recognize Juneteenth as a holiday.
King took his story about what the holiday is important to him several decades back even before Lanier’s first celebration here, remembering when he was a child attending a ceremony in Memorial Park where a flag was raised.
“If we can fly the Greek flag and the Italian flag and the Irish flag here, we should also fly the Juneteenth flag here,” he said.
And that they did, with Airman Lanier’s father and two sons, Noah and Nairobi, hoisting it high above Memorial Park.
Just before that happened, 1976 West Point graduate and Connecticut’s Governor’s Committee for Veterans Affairs, Archie Elam spoke about the history of Juneteenth, but also thanked all those in attendance for attending.
“It’s amazing to me that after living here for four years, I left West Point not knowing more about the great history and the people of this town,” he said. “Highland Falls, and Highlands, is West Point’s town. We’re going to live like that, and I can speak for the Superintendent of West Point too, we’re aligned in that thought.”
He encouraged continued inclusion of “all people, because at the end of the day we are all Americans”.
“Talk to others about what you have learned,” he said. “Even if they aren’t quite feeling you that day. Open your hands, reach for them, embrace them, help them.”
Also prior to the flag raising, Orange County Legislator Laurie Tautel presented a county proclamation to the Lanier family, citing the observance of Juneteenth.
“Freedom, we all know, isn’t free,” she said. “It takes hard work.”
