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Dearborn celebrates Juneteenth, with "Stroll N Roll" event

By Veronica Meadows and Fox 2 Staff
Published  June 19, 2021 7:11pm EDT
Holidays
FOX 2 Detroit

Dearborn holds the 1st Juneteenth event, "Stroll N Roll."

The City of Dearborn held its first Juneteenth event called 'Stroll N Roll,' organizers say they are trying to make the city more inclusive after racists history.

DEARBORN, Mich. - On Saturday, the city of Dearborn held a special event to raise awareness for the new Federal holiday Juneteenth.

Juneteenth is the day to commemorate the end of slavery.

RELATED: Bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday passes Senate

Julia Kapilango, Chairwoman of east Dearborn downtown development authority and an organizer of the event, says all she wants people to do is grow and prosper together.

"Even though there may have been a little sprinkle in the forecast, it didn’t stop people from coming out, and I think that’s just fantastic; all we want to do is love grow and prosper together," said Kapilango.

Kapilango says her focus is on making Dearborn a more inclusive city after Former Mayor Orville Hubbards stent as activists say the city has had a racist past.

"You have a strong legacy of people's grandmothers and great-grandmothers that had to endure discrimination, hatred, and violence on multiple levels," said Kapilango.

Congresswoman Debbie Dingle, Attorney General Dana Nessel, and several city council members showed their support at Saturday's demonstration.

"This walk every step these people take is steps to, we can’t change history, but we can write our new history we will not fall on the wrong side of history in 2021," says Community Activist Pastor Maurice Hardwick. 

Hardwick who also helped organize the event, says he is excited to see the community come together and says he knows they still have a long way to end racism.

"We want to talk about today celebrating freedom, but we’re not excluding the work that needs to be done; we want to continue to push that we go into reparations; we want to go into things that will be policy changes," Hardwick said.