To the north to the south to the east and to the west above and below within and without we are happy and thankful for this moment in time we are the fulfillment of our ancestors' dream we are persevered through the dark night of the Maafa the dark night of enslavement the dark night of our illustrious ancestors who were criminally removed from their homes and families to be brought to this new land called America we are sustained by the power and the glory and the righteousness and the goodness that our illustrious ancestors taught us sooner or later all the people of the earth will have to learn to live together in peace and thereby transform this pending cosmic energy into a creative psalm of brotherhood if this is to be achieved man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge retaliation and aggression the foundation for such a method is love Reverend Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Everybody repeat after me unity in our community peace love unity throughout humanity peace love in our neighborhood peace love sisterhood in our neighborhood peace love unity inside of you and me inside of you and me now.

Look at the neighbor next to you and say inside of you and me inside of you and me inside of you and me with me love unity in our community love unity throughout humanity love unity inside of you and me don't don't just sit there looking at me like uh you looking at TV If you feel it, do something with it, huh?

This is a celebration of emancipation let the celebration begin I was born by the river in a little tent and just like that river I've been running since it's been a long time coming, but I know change gon come for your cities, it's been too holy, and I'm afraid to die worship death beyond the sky, it's been a long time, but I know change gon' come yes, it will to the movies in I go downtown people keep telling me why you're still hanging around it's been a long time coming, but I know change gon' come shed a whole yes then I go to my brother and I see brothers can you help me please

It's been long time coming, but I know change gon' yes, then I go to my brother.

And I say brother can you help me pray that means knocking me.

There's been time when I thought I wasn't gonna last that long.

But now that I know I am able to carry on, it's been a it's been a long time coming, but I know it's gone yes, yes, yes, it will even everybody.

I'm a black preacher.

If you don't talk back to me, I get nervous.

Good evening, everybody.

And do me a favor, if you're happy to be here, why don't you take your hands and put them together and just celebrate this beautiful moment?

We gather here in this Juneteenth celebration, and before I offer prayer, might we be reminded that there's no coincidence that we celebrate this moment and some of the same things that happened in eighteen sixty-five.

That this country will never be a place where everyone is free until everyone is free.

I'm going to pray in the tradition that I brought with me.

Please pray in the tradition that you brought with you.

Let's pray together.

God our Creator, God our Conqueror, God our Comforter, God of love and liberation.

We come to you on this evening grateful for the gift of life.

We are reminded of the strength of our ancestors who believed in liberation when it had not made it to them yet.

It is that strength that we attempt to embody in this moment.

We invite your holy spirit to inhabit this space.

Bless it and make it sacred.

We know where your spirit is, there's joy.

And where your spirit is, there is freedom.

Have your way, and as we celebrate our culture, we would do good to also celebrate you.

I pray it now.

In the matchless and mighty and liberating name of Jesus who is my Christ, and the people of God who love God would say Amen.

Good evening.

Greetings from the Ohio State University.

We are the African American Voices Gospel choir.

Oh wait, oh wait.

At this time, would you stand for the singing of the Black National Anthem?

Lift every voice and sing every single day with the rejoice.

Oh, let the collapse continue.

Let the applause continue.

Happy Juneteenth, Columbus.

Happy Juneteenth.

It is an honor on behalf of my colleagues to welcome you to the People's House to celebrate our inaugural, our very first Juneteenth here at City Hall.

We we joke about this often, but um help me recognize the council member who is responsible for this.

Uh Councilmember Tierra Ross.

I said she's using her new member energy to put on this event.

Um, on behalf of my colleagues, like I said, we it's an honor to welcome you to uh City Hall.

I say that the way that I keep my job as council president is shouting out my colleagues by name.

So would you indulge me in uh helping me uh uh honor and celebrate Councilmember Emmanuel Reamy, Councilmember Chris White, Councilmember Nancy Day Alcauer, Councilmember Lord Esparosa de Padilla, Councilmember Nick Bankston, Councilmember Tierra Ross.

Now we are joined here by um uh so many elected officials.

Would you help me recognize our mayor Andrew Ginther?

Now let's just slow down right now as we acknowledge our Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, Congresswoman made fighting democracy look good and fun.

We're joined here by our state representative uh Dontavia Juros my state representative Latina Humphrey, our Franklin County prosecutor, Sheila Favor.

And are there any other elected officials who oh my gosh, my senator Herschel Craig?

The elected's uh shout out is the setup of the day.

So are there any other electors that have to be shouted out?

Well, like I said, it really is an honor uh to be here with you today to um celebrate, actually.

Let's give it up for Quan Howe.

Between Kwan and the OSU choir, you took us to church right where we should be for black for Juneteenth.

And Baba Harris, thank you so much for censoring us and getting us started.

Um Juneteenth commemorates June 19th, 1865, when enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, finally learn of their freedom.

More than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued.

It's a day that reminds us that freedom delayed is freedom denied.

We celebrate the resilience, the achievements, the culture, and the contributions of black Americans who have helped shaped our nation and our city.

Today, as we celebrate Juneteenth, we honor those who came before us, those who continue the work today, and those young people who will carry it forward in the years to come.

It is now my honor to introduce Mayor Andrew Ginther.

Good evening, Columbus.

Happy Juneteenth, everybody.

It is good to be with you on a beautiful night here in the city.

Thank you, President Hardin, to all the members of City Council, particularly Councilmember Ross, who's done so much work in pulling together this great celebration and illumination.

It's an honor to join you as we recognize Juneteenth and reflect on what this day means to our city, to our country.

This illumination ceremony is important because we should all celebrate the end of the evil wickedness of slavery.

When the last enslaved Americans finally learned they were free, it was a monumental day for our country.

A powerful evil was overcome.

It's also a reminder that justice delayed is the president said is justice denied, and that freedom must be more than an ideal.

It must be something we all experience in our daily lives.

Today we celebrate the extraordinary contributions of black Americans whose perseverance, leadership, innovation, and courage have shaped Columbus and helped shape our nation.

Their stories are woven into the history of our neighborhoods, our businesses, our schools, our faith communities, our culture.

But Juneteenth isn't just to look back.

Every family can build a stable future.

And every neighborhood shares in our city's progress and prosperity.

So as City Hall shines tonight in recognition of Juneteenth.

Let it also stand as a symbol of our shared responsibility.

Let it guide our path to expanded opportunity, removed barriers in a city that lives up to the promise of freedom for everyone.

Thank you all for being here and happy Juneteenth.

Please welcome our CEO, CEO and president of our Urban League, Stephanie Hightower.

Hello, Columbus.

If y'all don't hear your response, I'm gonna get worried up here.

Hello, Columbus.

There we go.

There we go.

Um I am so excited to be here this evening with all of you.

Um I'm not gonna be long because I've been talking all day and I'm tired of talking.

Look at Council President say, yeah, don't sit up here too long.

That's what he said.

But anyway, what does Juneteenth mean to me?

Juneteenth, or Freedom Day, was the day in 1865, as Council President Hardin mentioned that was about emancipation and the end of slavery.

But to me, the Juneteenth holiday is more than that.

Juneteenth is about Juneteenth is a history lesson for our country, an opportunity to reflect on the past.

Juneteenth is about recognizing the resilience and the perseverance of black people.

For us to remember that the struggle was and still is real, but we can't stay stuck on the trauma of slavery, but we've got to lean in on how we build capacity for future generations.

Juneteenth is the storytelling opportunity to teach our young people that we have two independence days, one in June and one in July.

In closing, I want to remind everybody this evening, based on what's happening in our nation's capital.

If we want to maintain our freedom to celebrate this holiday and to celebrate this holiday for generations to come, it's important that we do what?

Get out to vote, get our family members out to vote, get our friends out to vote, get our neighbors out to vote, so that we can continue to live freely, think freely, move freely, and speak freely.

And I look forward to seeing all of you on Saturday at Juneteenth on the AF.

Thank you.

And I now want to introduce our new fantastic CEO of the King Arts Complex, President and CEO Corey Favor.

Good evening, Columbus.

Good evening.

So thank you, Mayor Genther.

Thank you to the baddest Congresswoman in the land.

Congresswoman Joyce Beatty.

Thank you to Senator Herschel Craig.

Thank you, Rep Geralds, Rep Humphries.

Special shout out to Councilmember Ross and to all my family and friends, the honorable council members on Columbus City Council, and especially Councilmember Harden.

And the Juneteenth on the Av Committee, as well as my dedicated staff at the King Arts Complex and all of our community partners and community members here this evening.

For the past 39 years, the King Arts Complex has provided a space to celebrate culture, connecting us with our neighbors, our artists, elders, young people, and our past.

And to me, freedom is about culture.

It is about community.

Freedom is the right to tell our stories, celebrate our joy, honor our ancestors, and imagine something greater for the next generation.

Together we share responsibility to preserve those freedoms and be caretakers of our sacred spaces that house them.

Juneteenth reminds me of where we must, where we must continue to do the work and where community begins and continues to thrive.

MBA champs.

As City Hall is illuminated this evening, may this light serve as both a symbol of remembrance and a call of responsibility.

So we can stand here today.

May this illumination shine as a tribute to our past, a celebration of our resilience and the promise that we will keep moving forward together.

Thank you.

And now I'd like to introduce the OSU African American Voices Choir under the direction of Herbert Smith II.

So we're gonna have church.

God is good.

And all the time.

Because she did not approve that message of that name going up on that wall.

And we talk about Jesus promised.

Jesus used Congresswoman Joyce Beatty to take that name off that wall.

President Reagan, what he said back in the day about Gorbachev, take that name.

No, it's Joyce Beatty.

You didn't approve that message.

And when you was up there at four o'clock in the morning, I think it was waiting.

I said, let him use you.

So what we're gonna do right now, we're gonna celebrate Columbus Ohio's own Joyce Beatty, and we're gonna praise the Lord for what he's doing in her life.

Amen.

Come on, let's get up on our feet.

Jesus promise.

And Shayla, if you want to come up here, come on.

Oh, how wonderful it is.

Jesus promised now take care of me.

Oh, let's city.

Jesus promised now to get me.

Oh, how wonderful it is.

Jesus promised you take care of me.

Jesus promised care of me.

I don't have to worry about the things ahead.

All I have to do is have right everyone.

Oh, how marvelous.

It is Jesus promise.

Jesus promised, he'll take care of me.

Come on, Tina said, I don't have to worry.

I don't have to worry about the things ahead.

I can call him in the morning.

I can call him in the middle of the night.

And when I call him our points, he'll make everything all right.

Jesus promised.

Come on, say that one more time.

Jesus promised.

Jesus promised, he'll take care of me.

Alright, where's all the tenants at?

Tennis.

Wave your hands, centers.

Alright, we're gonna make this interactive.

Hey, you repeat after them, okay?

Alright, Tina.

Say, I don't have to worry.

I don't have to worry about the things to hate.

Come on, head.

One more time.

I don't want to work.

Give it up for the tenors.

All right.

Altos, where you at Altos.

Okay, AP.

Also, all I gotta do is all I have to do is say right.

All I have to do is say about the two and say right.

All I have to do is say, come on, Also.

All right, gal.

Give it up for the outo.

So pronounce.

Where's all the Sopranos at?

Emily.

Come on, y'all.

Everybody, I can call them in the morning.

I can call them in the morning.

I can call him in the way.

And when I call him, he'll make everything alright.

Everything alright.

It does not matter.

It does have to tell him, maybe.

Say Jesus promise.

Alright, here we go.

Come on, take us.

I don't have to worry about the things ahead.

I don't have to worry about the things ahead.

And when I call him I told him, he'll make everything alright.

It does not matter.

How big the problem may be.

Say Jesus promise.

Say Jesus promise.

He'll take care of me.

Say Jesus promise.

He'll take care of me.

Say Jesus promise.

He'll take care of me.

Say Jesus promise.

He'll take care of me.

Say Jesus promise.

He'll take care of me.

Come on, put your hands together, Columbus.

God bless you.

Let's give it up one more time.

For the OSU African American Voices Gospel choir.

Coming next to the stage, I'd like to introduce Swan Blakely, community activist, HIV advocate and founder of Shades of Red.

Good evening, everyone.

I see I got some church folks in here.

Praise the Lord, everybody.

Praise the Lord, everybody.

There we go.

I feel at home.

All right.

I feel you, Tina.

All right.

My name is Swan Blakely, and it is an honor to stand before you as we celebrate Juneteenth.

I see a lot of my church family, co-workers, colleagues, community members.

Thank you for being present.

Visibility is what matters.

So thank you for showing up today.

Juneteenth reminds us that freedom is not only about breaking chains, it's about reclaiming identity, dignity, and humanity, which is our mind, body, and soul.

If I could have a title to my message today, it will be free to be me.

Can y'all repeat that after me?

Free to be me.

No, let them hear you on Broad Street.

Free to be me.

There we go.

Amen.

As a black gay man and someone who believes in the power of service, justice, and showing up for one another.

Being free to be me honors the generations who who fought so that we could live, lead, and thrive as our authentic selves.

As we celebrate Juneteenth and remember the shoulders I stand on.

I mean, I'm sorry.

As we celebrate Juneteenth, I honor and remember the shoulders I stand on.

Leaders like James Baldwin, Beverly Blakely, Darlene Johns, Marsha P.

Johnson, Bayer Rustin, Andre Leontale.

These individuals didn't sit in silence, but they use their voice, they use their platforms to get out and march to vote, to shine their light.

And so that's what Juneteenth is about.

It's about freedom.

So whatever your freedom, whatever you want to be free from, you have the power and authority to be free from that.

Whether that is depression, suicide, low self-esteem, high blood pressure, whatever it is, you have the ability to be free from.

Y'all looking at me, but I need y'all to say that for yourself.

I can be free to be me.

Thank you.

And knowing we have authority over our life to be free from whatever we want to be free from, we have the power to claim that.

Alright?

I'm not a singer before I take my seat, but I felt led to do something.

You put me in C sharp.

I am free.

Praise the Lord.

I'm free.

No longer by no more chains holding me.

My soul is resting.

Thank you, God.

It's just a blessing.

Help me out.

Praise the Lord.

No.

Praise the Lord.

Hallelujah.

I'm free.

Thank you.

God bless you.

Can we welcome to the mic, our council member Tierra Roth and Nick Bainston.

God bless you.

Now, why would someone do that to me?

I'm torn up.

Tore up.

If you know you're free, clap your hands.

If you know you're free, clap your hands.

We're free right now.

Freedom is a journey.

We're still on it.

Um, and today it is my privilege to present this resolution to the committee members of Juneteenth on the Ave to recognize the visionary leaders and organizations behind a celebration that has become one of Columbus's most powerful expressions of culture, community, and freedom.

As Angela Davis reminds us, Juneteenth is not only a day to celebrate the end of slavery, it is a day to honor those who gave us hope and to renew our commitment to the ongoing struggle for freedom.

That spirit is alive and thriving on the mighty District 7 near Eastside, where the streets, the buildings, the story of Bronzeville stand as a testament to the resilience, creativity, and excellence of black Columbus.

At a time when so many stories are lost to time, Juneteenth on the ad reminds us that preserving our stories is preserving our power.

When we tell the stories of our ancestors, our neighborhoods, our artists, our entrepreneurs, and our freedom fighters.

We ensure that the future generations understand not only where we have been, but what is possible and where we are going.

History lives when it is shared, and communities thrive when their stories are celebrated.

And while Juneteenth causes us to remember the hardships endured by those who came before us, it also caused us to celebrate.

There is power in black joy.

There is power in gathering.

There is power in dancing.

There is power in creating.

There is power in laughing.

There is power in lifting one another up.

And as my council member said to us during Black History Month, there is power in Black Joy.

Can we take a moment just to celebrate us?

Celebrate the fight.

Celebrate the journey.

Oh, you're not doing better than that.

If you if you're happy, and you know it, you ought to clap your hand.

Joy is not the absence of struggle.

It is an act of resilience.

It is a declaration that despite every obstacle, our communities continue to dream, build love, and thrive.

Since its founding in 2022, Juneteenth on the Av has transformed a nationally recognized holiday into a platform of remembrance, education, cultural expression, and inspiration.

Through the leadership of Maroon Arts Group, come on up.

Through the leadership of the Poindexter Village Museum and Cultural Center.

Come on up.

Through the leadership of the King Arts Complex.

Through the leadership of the Columbus Urban League.

This celebration continues to honor our past while challenging us to build a more just and equitable future.

And on behalf of all of my colleagues at Columbus City Council, we are proud to recognize the creators of Juneteenth on the Av for preserving history, uplifting community, safeguarding the stories that define us, and ensuring that the promise of freedom continues to inspire generations to come.

Can everybody clap it up for the Juneteenth on the Av Committee?

Celebrate them.

Now listen, we said we were celebrating, y'all, so we have lots of resolutions here.

We have a resolution from Columbus City Council.

And we also have a resolution from the very first woman and black person to be our Franklin County prosecutor.

Prosecutor Shayla D favor.

I'm going to also give this to you today one more time.

Clap it up for the Juneteenth on the Av Committee.

Praise the Lord and I'm free.

No longer.

Chains holding me.

And churches a beat.

My soul is resting.

It's just a blessing.

All right, here we go.

Praise the Lord.

Hallelujah.

I'm free.

Okay.

No, no, y'all not gonna go sing ever in a row and me not say something.

Good evening, everybody.

How y'all doing?

You know, uh, I want to spend the first 10 seconds of my time from the State House to White House.

You know, a freedom has a sound.

And I would love for you to make the loudest applause you can for freedom so that the folks who want to trample on our history hear us that we're not gonna get we're not gonna stop.

Let's go.

Let's go.

Let's go.

I think they need to hear you down the street.

There we go.

It is truly an honor and a privilege to be here of State Representative Don Tavius Gerald's.

Really proud to be here alongside my dear colleague, uh Representative Latina M.

Humphrey and our own very own senator, Hersell Crick.

And of course, uh, I do want to offer a resolution.

Um, but before I do that, I just want to say one thing in uh June 19, 1865, freedom arrived in Galveston, Texas, and it didn't come as a gift, right?

It came through resistance, through living up to hope, coming alive to ultimately a spirit that remained unbroken.

Yeah, and now we are here standing on their shoulders.

And it is truly an honor to be here to honor also Juneteenth on the AF for their tremendous work keeping history alive.

You know, black history is American history, y'all.

That's right.

I think I need to say that one more time.

Black history is what?

There we go.

And so from uh the work that they have done, Juneteenth on the AF carries the legacy forward in our very own Bronzeville community in my district, and a neighborhood whose story is written and woven into the cultural, economic, and civic fabric that is Black Columbus through art and music and food and fellowship and storytelling.

This event honors our ancestors who endured, the leaders who organized and the communities that continued rising despite exclusion and injustice.

Therefore, it is with great respect and sincere admiration.

We, on behalf of the Ohio legislature, commend Juneteenth on AV and all of its partner organizations for preserving the spirit of Juneteenth and creating a space where history lives, culture thrives, and community stands united.

Let's give them one more round of applause, everybody.

You all don't gotta come back up.

I'm gonna give this over to uh our dear brother Marshall, uh, to say thank you for all that you've done.

And now it is my honor to introduce the incomparable Shelby tune.

Thank y'all.

Wow, thank you, everybody.

Um, it is my honor to stand before you.

Um, first give yourselves a round of applause.

We're celebrating together.

This is huge.

Um, thank you to the council, thank you to Councilwoman Ross for making this possible.

Thank you, Mayor, and I have to thank our state reps for making it possible for me to stand here.

So thank you all.

Um, first, Juneteenth on the AV is a testimony to the resilience of the near East Side community.

Come on, give us you know, traditionally, we're known for having celebrations on the AF.

So when the opportunity came for us to come together and celebrate together, it was a no-brainer for Pointexter Village Museum to be a part of this.

I remember a little bit of criticism, like you're not even open yet.

And I'm like, so we're gonna get to work now.

We're gonna get to work now.

So thank you for this recognition.

Thank you for the opportunity to also promote Juneteenth on the Av.

So all y'all better be out there on Saturday.

All right, 12 o'clock.

And we just want to thank you for the opportunity to continue to celebrate black resilience and black history.

This museum is a testimony of this city's effort to make sure that black history is American history, and so it's my honor to make sure we get this done.

For those of you that don't know, we put shovels in the ground in May.

Give it up for yourselves.

So, what that means for us is we will have our very own African American museum in early 2028.

That's huge, Columbus.

As Project Lee for Ohio History Connections, Pointexter Village, you know, I cannot be up here without every last rep political official, everybody who has done their part to make sure that this happens.

So if you guys can please, I cannot ask you enough to thank all of our reps, all of our council, all our political officials, because they fought for us to make sure we had what we needed to get this done.

You cannot get something like this done without them.

So if there's any kind of if you you there's anything you can see in the story, is that our political officials get it when it comes to black history.

That's right.

So I'd like to speak for my entire community, my elders, my ancestors.

When I just sincerely say thank you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for not giving up on the project, not for for not giving up on the near east side, and for not giving up on the black history.

That is why we are here today.

I see Juneteenth on the Av as a powerful reflection of the mission of our community, and it is my hope that we always continue to come together.

The beauty in the Av is the collaboration.

So a genuine thank you to Maroon Arts Group, Urban League King Arts Complex.

I'm so excited for the good energy that we bring when we come together.

The future is bright.

So if you could give us a round of applause for that, because collaboration ain't easy.

It's not.

But the near ESI stands to have rich and successful, thriving black cultural institutions in it.

And we need to give another round of applause for that because there's not one, there's not two, three, there's four or five thriving black cultural institutions in the near east side.

There's not another place in the country quite like this.

That's it.

That's it.

So I just like to recognize our collaboration.

Thank you for collaborating with us.

Thank you for believing in the museum.

Thank you for everybody who has come together to make this possible today.

And thank you to the commitment of everyone here and our political officials, and everybody, we're just genuinely thank you.

So thankful.

So next, I'd like to introduce Marshall Schwartz, a powerful advocate on the near east side, and I'm grateful to work with you, brother.

So come on out.

All right, they put me up last, so I guess I gotta get a benediction.

Is there one?

I grew up Kojick.

That you know this is about the time they break out and say, Yeah.

Yes, I need all right.

I heard somebody say, Oh, okay, come on.

Y'all know.

Um, first and foremost, uh, I want to give honor to our ancestors who sacrificed so that we could be standing here today to celebrate.

Um I want to honor the elected officials in the room, um, and the elders in the room in the space who are still living, who also who live through Jim Crow and the civil rights movement, um, whose shoulders we stand on.

Uh, it's an immense honor to stand before you today and be recognized by city council, by the state.

Um Juneteenth on the Av, it's truly a labor of love.

Which started as us hosting small, you know, Juneteenth celebrations at the box park and the Urban League has blossomed into a coalition of cultural organizations coming together to honor our collective history, to celebrate freedom and to empower and inspire liberation for all.

Angela Davis once said, Today, on Juneteenth, the day we celebrate the end of slavery, the day we memorialize those who offered us hope for the future, and a day when we renew our commitment to the struggle for freedom.

So, as we take time to celebrate, we're also reminded, as my brother Corey said and our ancestors would say, that freedom ain't free, y'all.

We're reminded that when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, some two years later, to make sure that fear folks know, knew that they were free after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, that the path toward freedom had actually not ended, but had only entered into its next phase.

That the end of slavery was not automatically freedom for all.

We reminded of Jim Crow on up through the civil rights movement.

And today, as we celebrate Juneteenth, we're reminded of the fragility of democracy.

That right now, as we speak, voting rights are being stripped.

Officers are being raided.

That liberty and justice has not been for all.

That working class people face insurmountable challenges, that human beings are being unlawfully detained, that right here in our city, housing and utility costs are making it difficult for everyday people to survive.

We're reminded that education, the arts, and youth programming, the things that make up our cultural fabric are being defunded.

And as much as Juneteenth on the Av is a celebration of richness of our community, it is most saliently a reminder that freedom is in fact not free.

That to believe in freedom is to believe that all of us deserve it.

That it is all of our duty to ensure freedom is accessible by design.

So as I close, as I take my text.

As we consider the sacrifices and ancestors of our ancestors who dream freedom dreams for us today, the question we are left with is what kind of ancestors do we want to be for those coming behind us?

So thank you for this recognition.

Thank you for this time.

If I'd have known it was gonna be all y'all here, I might have dressed a little flyer.

Um I might have brought my Bible with me too if I knew we was going to church.

It's been a while.

Um but uh as I segue into the next part and and as we bring the program to a close, my brother Kwan Howe can make his way up.

I think he's closing us out with a selection.

Okay, he ain't gonna come up, he's gonna do his own thing.

I see.

He's gonna sing from the seat and then walk up.

Right.

Let me not mess up his swag.

Um, but thank you all all the all the elected officials that have already been named, those who have not been named, all the community members who showed up today um to celebrate with us.

Um we just thank you.

And let's get to work, y'all.

Let's do it.

Come on, put your hands together.

Turn that track over just a little bit more.

Hey, come on.

I recorded this song back in 96 with sounds of blackness.

And listen, our change is coming.

And we're gonna make a difference, hey.

Here we go.

Yes, sir.

A man said to me, how can you smile when your world is humbling down?

I see my secret when I wanna cry.

I take a look around, see that I'm getting by, hold on, hold on, change is coming.

Hold on, don't worry.

Now hold on, say that you can make it.

Hold on, everything.

Some people like to work, some people like to hide.

Some people like to run away from the paint inside.

Not a show business.

Do whatever you wanna do.

Cause if it don't work out, here's what you gotta do now.

Hold on.

Your change is coming.

Hold on.

Don't you worry, hold on.

Say that you can make it now.

Hold on, everything.

Now with the troubles of light, they weigh a time.

Jesus is your hater.

When the love you see, it's so hard to find.

Don't give up.

Keep the faith.

Hold on.

And I hold on.

Now hold on.

Hey.

I said hold on.

Can lay it.

Hold on.

Everything.

This is y'all stop clapping.

Come on.

Right here.

Clap, clap, clap, folks.

Now there's a simple part to the song, even if you really can't sing.

It makes you feel good.

Hey, come on.

Put your hands together.

Even when you're in the shower, this song sometimes gives you the courage to be a great singer.

But I want y'all to help me say this right here.

Hey, I say lay.

Now hold on.

Your chain is coming.

Oh, hold on.

You don't have to worry.

Hold on.

City can make it.

Hold on.

Everything.

Now hold on.

Our change is coming.

Say the hold on.

Don't you worry.

Hold on.

I say to you can make it.

A hold on.

Everything.

Listen as I take my seat through this.

La.

La la.

La la.

La la.

La la la la la la la.

Not that part.

Thank you.

Give it up for national recording artists, Kwan Ha.

All right.

Can I have my council colleagues come the Juneteenth on the Av committee?

Please come up.

It's time to light up.

Huh?

The maid.

Yep, all the all of the elected.

I'm so sorry.

Pastor Holmes, come on up.

Council.

I mean, my goodness.

Prosecutor favor.

Come on out.

Okay.

Understood.

Understood.

Understood.

Come on with Tay.

Okay.

All right.

As we prepare to conclude this historic inaugural illumination in celebration of Juneteenth.

I'd like to ask a question.

What does freedom require of us?

Freedom is a responsibility.

It requires us to remember, to learn, to build, and to ensure that the promise of liberty is not reserved for a select few, but reaches every corner of our city and every member of our community.

The story of Juneteenth teaches us that freedom delayed is freedom denied, Mayor.

And so our charge today is to continue the work of extending opportunity, dignity, and belonging to people, regardless of color, regardless of race, regardless of creed, regardless of faith, regardless of who you love, regardless of where you're from.

Freedom belongs to all of us.

Tonight we have been reminded that light has the power to tell a story.

And just as this building will soon shine brightly against the night sky, may we carry that light forward into our neighborhoods, into our workplaces, into our schools, our houses of worship, and our halls of government.

May it serve as a reminder that freedom grows brighter when we commit ourselves to one another and to the unfinished work of creating a city where everyone can thrive.

To our dedicated city council staff, to CTV.

Give it up for CTV.

No one ever claps it up for CTV.

To the entire council team, to the entire Juneteenth on the Av Collaboration Committee, and to everyone that made this moment possible.

Thank you for helping us honor the past while inspiring the future.

Now let us come together in celebration and reflection as we prepare to illuminate City Hall in honor of Juneteenth.

Are we counting down from 10?

This is my first time.

Counting down.

All right, everybody stand.

Let's count down from ten.

Are we ready?

Ten.

Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

It'll get better as it gets darker.

Listen, it'll get better as it gets dark.

That's a word.

Somebody preach that.

So on preach that.

Preach that.

Pastor Meredith, I see you back there, take that from me.

Preach that.

Preach that.

Thank you all for coming.

Happy June team.

DJ is the DJ still here.

Where are you at, girl?

No?

She's gone.

She's coming.

I know she didn't leave.

DJ, can you drop that beat real quick just to give us some outro music?

And also, we have a photo booth.

Black owned business right here in District 7.

The Garrison Manor.

Please take a photo before you leave.