At Overland Park Juneteenth celebration, pleas for love and calls to action
Johnson Countians also gathered for Juneteenth this year, including at the Advocacy and Awareness Group of Johnson County's fifth annual event in Overland Park. Above, rappers Tuan Saun and JazMeen perform their new single “Kansteenth”, which highlights the contemporary experiences of the Black community in the wake of systemic racism and police brutality. Photo credit Julia Schnittker.
After a morning of heavy rain Saturday, clear skies ushered in the Advocacy and Awareness Group of Johnson County’s fifth annual “Peace March and Rally” Juneteenth celebration in downtown Overland Park.
This summer marks the first Juneteenth since Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly designated it a state holiday in October 2023. That decision came after pressure from activists from organizations such as AAGJC for Kansas to follow the Biden Administration’s designation of Juneteenth as a federal holiday in 2021.
Local officials including County Commissioner Janeé Hanzlick, Overland Park Mayor Curt Skoog and Overland Park Councilman Drew Mitrisin took part in Saturday’s event.
Claudia Dawson, an organizer with AAGJC, holds the megaphone for 4th District County Commissioner Janeé Hanzlick as she delivers her remarks before Saturday’s march began. Speaking with the Post on Juneteenth’s importance in Johnson County, Hanzlick said, “We’ve all been affected by racism, and it didn’t end in 1865 in Galveston, Texas. We continue to see and be impacted by racism in Johnson County. And, we are a county that was named after a slaveholder.” Photo credit Julia Schnittker.
Participants in Saturday’s peace march gathered at Overland Park City Hall and walked to Thompson Park near downtown.
The march took after the tradition of historical civil rights marches, beginning with a prayer, and rallied around messages that originated in contemporary movements, with chants like “No justice, no peace!” and “Ain’t no power like the power of the people!”.
One participant said, “I march in honor of everyone that came before us and who marched in the Civil Rights movement. And the symbolism [of marching] is everything they did for us to get here.”
A woman waves from her driveway as marchers passing along Santa Fe Drive, including David Livingston, senior pastor at Old Mission Methodist Church, and a member of the congregation. Old Mission was one of the sponsors of the Juneteenth celebration. Photo credit Julia Schnittker.The march rounds the corner into Thompson Park, intersecting with onlookers attending the Overland Park Farmers’ Market. Photo credit Julia Schnittker.Jay Torres, among a group of participants representing the KU chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi, led the marchers in chants. The chants included those which have become staples at protests for racial justice, such as “No Justice, No Peace!”, followed by a chant specific to the Overland Park march, “We march for JoCo- Juneteenth!” Photo credit Julia Schnittker.
The rally portion of the event burst with musicians, vendors and advocacy organizations from across the county, all while a series of speakers addressed participants.
Though much of the crowd gathered under the shade a distance from the main stage, speakers’ voices carried through the park. Those voices included poets, politicians, pastors, authors and activists.
Organizations and businesses from around Johnson County hosted tables at the rally at Thompson Park, including the Johnson County Arts Council, the Midwest Innocence Project and the League of Women Voters. Photo credit Julia Schnittker.A display of handmade jewelry at Camillez Creations, one of many Black-owned businesses that had a table at the rally. Camille, the owner, remarked that she makes all of the jewelry by hand. Camille and her business partner Shaerri said that this was their first time attending the Overland Park Juneteenth rally and that “all of it” compelled them to be there. Photo credit Julia Schnittker.
Cathy, a member of Old Mission Methodist Church, and Jay, a member of the Overland Park branch of the NAACP, pose for a photo. The two organizations tabled next to each other during the rally. On the importance of representing the NAACP at community events, Jay said, “[The NAACP] are here to help not only advance [the Black community], but as you go you pull people up. You don’t climb on them, you pull them up.” Representatives of Old Mission said that what brought them to the event was the belief that, ”we’re supposed to love our neighbors like ourselves. There is no difference.” Photo credit Julia Schnittker.Mayor Curt Skoog delivered the rally’s opening remarks.
Afterwards, Julie Sponagel, a member of AAGJC and an organizer of the rally, spoke about the critical importance of Juneteenth and Black history as a whole.
“Why is [the history of Juneteenth] so important to us today?” she said. “The fact remains that we have numerous systems still firmly in place today — some being actively created today — that are all about the people in power maneuvering to keep their power and the wealth that accompanies that power. And still, at the tragic expense of a diminished quality of Black life, and often the taking of that Black life.”
Overland Park Mayor Curt Skoog embraces a representative of Concorde Career College after delivering his remarks to the crowd. In his speech, Skoog emphasized that the Overland Park Police Department’s policies are available for public access on the Overland Park city website, and he highlighted the city’s broader efforts to become a “more welcoming place”. Photo credit Julia Schnittker.Stacey Knoell, who is running as a Democrat for a Kansas Senate seat in Olathe this year, delivers a speech on the political intersections of Juneteenth. Knoell implored that attendees to make plans to vote, preferably through an advanced ballot dropped off at a polling location or through early in-person voting. Photo credit Julia Schnittker.
Many children were present at the march and rally, and guests such as celebrated children’s author Dayonne Richardson made space for them to take part in the celebration.
Other areas of the arts were well-represented, too, with performances by vocalist Brooklyn Anderson and rappers Tuan Suan and JazMeen, in addition to a poetry reading by award-winning poet M. Palowski Moore.
Author Dayonne Richardson engages the audience in a reading of her book, “Our Gift Grace”. A longtime educator, Richardson expressed the importance of making the audience active participants in the lessons of the book, which included understanding one’s emotions and giving others grace. Photo credit Julia Schnittker.
The rally’s keynote speaker was Darron Story, a community leader with a long history of service around Kansas City and a career in many diverse fields, including the church, the arts and local politics.
Throughout his speech, Story cited historical events which have exposed the contradictions between America’s message of freedom and its oppression of Black people, ranging back to a speech made by famed abolitionist Fredrick Douglass on July 4, 1852, in which he citedut white Americans’ hypocrisy regarding Black slaves’ civil freedoms.
Story proposed what all people in a community today must do in order to make progress on racial justice, first that all “must truly acknowledge the atrocities of slavery, or these wounds will never heal.”
Secondly, he said that all must have empathy and “walk beside” the Black community when they face oppression, and finally that all must “love each other, because love endures all things.”
Keynote speaker Darron Story delivers a final address. He left the crowd with a final message, “Love is our answer.” Photo credit Julia Schnittker.
Julian Schnittker is a freelance photographer who graduated from Shawnee Mission South High School and now attends George Washington University. More of his work can be found here.
