Zeneta Everhart on the importance of Juneteenth education

Buffalo Common Council member Zeneta Everhart joins In Focus this week to discuss the importance of the Juneteenth holiday and the need for continued education about it.

“June 16 is an important holiday for celebration and for education and we need to highlight it around the world,” she said. “The Fourth of July is the holiday we associate with freedom in this country. But unfortunately, my ancestors were enslaved. They were not free. So we need to celebrate the diversity of this country. Black people built this country on their backs. Their blood is in the soil of their country We need to talk about Galveston, Texas, you need to talk about why there was a civil war, don’t we? shouldn’t teach them that And so, you know, it’s 2021. I was absolutely thrilled when President Biden made it a federal holiday because now we have to teach it properly, we can’t just bypass it. before it was like we can teach on Juneteenth, but we can kind of add it a little bit, right, but now it’s a federal holiday and we have to talk about it.

“As the education chair of the City of Buffalo Common Council, this makes me very happy because education is important. It’s one of the things I talked about after 5/14 and when I went to testify before Congress about the need to educate our citizens Because (those) who committed this terrible, terrible day in the city of Buffalo, he was not informed. He was poorly educated, and that. It’s this country’s fault.

You can hear the full conversation between Zeneta Everhart and JoDee Kenney via the video player above. And don’t forget to take a look at the biggest issues affecting Upstate New York, on In Focus with JoDee Kenney – every Sunday. Spectrum News 1.