South
Carolina town uses WHITE models to advertise Juneteenth celebration:
Cringeworthy banners spark anger from black residents who say town is
'gentrifying' emancipation holiday
PUBLISHED: 01:49 EDT, 26 May
2023 | UPDATED: 02:02
EDT, 26 May 2023
The organizers of a South
Carolina town's Juneteenth celebrations have apologized after advertising the
event with a banner featuring only white people. Greenville residents were shocked to see the banner
hanging from a lamppost in their town, pitching the event as 'a celebration of freedom, unity
and love'. 'Meanwhile in Greenville, South Carolina...' tweeted
the account Black-Owned SC, with a puzzled face emoji. Multiple people accused the organizers of attempting to
'gentrify' the event. 'Yeah... Y'all gentrifying Juneteenth already,' said
one. Greenville, South Carolina is advertising its Juneteenth celebrations with a banner featuring a white couple 'WHAT?! Gentrification of #Juneteenth?' asked another. 'Is captain marvel coming to gentrify juneteenth?' another
said. Another asked: 'Who approved this? I know greenville
got black folks there.' One said the imagery was symptomatic of a wider
problem. 'This is how Black History gets completely distorted,
repackaged, to be palatable for white Americans, then and erased,' she said. 'This is 100% doing harm. This is 100% buying in to the
idea we can't be whole on our own. Not even for one day.' Some thought the image of a white couple, used to
advertise the black festival, was fake. 'I know y'all lying. Who is in charge of this?!' asked
one person. One responded: 'Not fake! The whole committee is full
of black folks too.' Rueben Hays, who is black, co-founded the
organizational group, Juneteenth GVL, with two other black men. The board is entirely black, as is the staff, according
to their website. They began hosting celebrations for Juneteenth last
year. Hays on Thursday apologized for the banner, and pointed out it was one of many, designed in a bid to be inclusive. Rueben Hays, executive director of Juneteenth GVL, on Thursday apologized for the banner 'Juneteenth GVL would like to offer an apology to the
community for the presence of non-black faces being represented on two flags
representing Juneteenth,' he said in a statement. 'We acknowledge this mistake having been made and will
correct the error quickly. 'This error was an attempt at uniting all of Greenville
and thereby a slight oversight on one individual's part that prevented us
from fully embracing the rich potential and celebrating the depth of the
black culture through the message and meaning of Juneteenth. 'We take full responsibility for this misstep. Our
dedicated team has worked tirelessly to curate remarkable Juneteenth
experiences…and we anticipate a beautiful celebration that everyone will be
pleased with and proud of. 'Moving forward, we are committed to ensuring that our
events fully the diversity, inclusivity, and historical significance of
Juneteenth.' The federal holiday commemorates June 19, 1865, when
the last slaves were finally freed, completing the work of the 1863
Emancipation Proclamation. On that day 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston
Bay, Texas and announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in
the state were free by executive decree. Joe Biden proclaimed June 19 a federal holiday in 2021. |
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