SANTA MONICA—The city of Santa Monica and founder LaVerne Ross will be celebrating its annual Juneteenth celebration online on Saturday, June 20, as announced in a press release on June 16.

This will be the 28th Juneteenth celebration to commemorate slaves being freed in Texas, despite President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation being issued two years earlier. The freeing of slaves in Texas marks the ending of legal slavery in the U.S. and Juneteenth, as it is often called and celebrated as America’s second independence day.

The theme for this year’s online event is Moving Forward Together, with Public Information Officer Constance Farrell writing the theme, “as our society considers the continued inequities Black Americans and Communities of Color have faced since that first Juneteenth.”

The program will take place from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. and will be emceed by community member Kathleen Benjamin. The event will begin with a traditional opening drum call by Chazz Ross. Next, an introduction prepared by Santa Monica’s Juneteenth celebration founder Ross will be read by Kathleen Benjamin.

A panel discussion introduced by Eula Fritz will ensue featuring Assistant Professor of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University Dr. Kim R. Harris and Captain of the Santa Monica Police Department Darrick Jacob. The celebration will end with a musical performance by Aaron Nigel Smith in collaboration with The Broad Stage.

The city of Santa Monica has been celebrating Juneteenth since 1992 thanks to the efforts of Ross. Ross’s family began celebrating Juneteenth before her family moved to Santa Monica from Texas in the 1950s.

Santa Monica’s 2020 virtual Juneteenth celebration marks a difference from previous year’s celebrations. In 2019, the celebration was outside, lasted six hours long, and featured over six musical groups. Face paint was offered for children and a cultural arts marketplace featured food trucks. The constraints of COVID-19 social distancing have resulted in this year’s virtual celebration.

To attend Santa Monica’s 28th Juneteenth celebration this Saturday, June 20 visit https://bit.ly/juneteenthsm.

To join the event from a mobile device download the BlueJeans app here and enter event ID: rtqzccdf.