Over 2,000 people crowded the 
Diag on Friday to celebrate June-
teenth, the day when African slaves 
in Texas were told they were free –– 
two years after the Emancipation 
Proclamation. This event, hosted 
by Survivors Speak and other local 
organizers, aimed to incorporate 
awareness for police brutality into a 
day of celebration.
Event organizer Trische’ Duck-
worth, Survivors Speak founder, 
told The Daily even though June-
teenth is a day of celebrating the 
progress 
in 
America 
towards 
equality, Black people are continu-
ously fighting racism and systemic 
oppression. 
“You think about Juneteenth 
being a celebration, but what are 
we really celebrating? Because 
although we’re free, we’re not real-
ly free,” Duckworth said. “Because 
there are laws that are put in place 
to stop us as melanated folks to have 
freedom and justice for all. So while 
we did want to celebrate and that’s 
why we ended with the dance party, 
we also wanted to focus on what’s 
going on in the world right now and 
how we have to come together as a 
people to fight for justice and use 
it as a call to action and then end it 
with a small, short celebration.”
After an open letter was sent to 
University President Mark Schlis-
sel by School of Education staff 
members to encourage the Univer-
sity to recognize Juneteenth as a 
national holiday in the workplace, 
many schools within the Univer-
sity allowed their staff early dis-
missal to participate in Juneteenth 
events. An email was also sent by 
Robert Sellers, chief diversity offi-
cer and vice provost for equity and 
inclusion, encouraging University 
employees to allow staff to partici-
pate in Juneteenth events. 
Speakers and performers at the 
protest included politicians, Washt-
enaw County residents and local 
artists. 
Former Michigan gubernatorial 
candidate Abdul El-Sayed spoke 

about reaching out against injustice 
and breaking the barriers of a racist 
society. 
“So we see that it’s been 155 years 
since we abolished, finally, the idea 
of (Black people) being concluded as 
part of what was private property,” 
El-Sayed said. “Well we’ve got a lot 
more work to be including Black 
folks … We are here today because 
that work is not over. We are here 
today because as we recognize as we 
stand on the floor of that moment, 
we all better reach out fists up high 
to break the ceiling that tell us that 
Black folks should be excluded, can 
be excluded, could be excluded.”
Eli Savit, Washtenaw County 
prosecutor candidate, talked about 
the school to prison pipeline. Savit 
referenced the book “The New Jim 
Crow,” when discussing how the 
U.S. criminal justice system is the 
modern day slavery that prevents 
Black people from having freedom.
“70 percent of the children in 
our juvenile detention centers are 
black,” Savit said. “Is the school to 
prison pipeline still freedom? And 
freedom does not come about even 
after somebody is released from 
prison or from jail. In the ‘New Jim 
Crow,’ Michelle Alexander made 
the case that we have replaced the 
old Jim Crow, the formal laws in the 
South, for a new Jim Crow in which 
we deny people coming back from 
prison (and) jails the opportunity 
to maintain jobs, to get housing, to 
continue their education.”
Halfway through the march, 
protesters kneeled in front of the 
Ann Arbor Municipal Center for 
eight minutes and 46 seconds to 
commemorate the death of George 
Floyd. Once the crowd reached the 
Diag again, people were dancing 
and celebrating Juneteenth. 
LSA and STAMPS senior Valerie 
Le said people should look into the 
history of America for themselves 
because much of it is whitewashed, 
which is why she never heard of 
Juneteenth before college. 
“I think that people should rec-
ognize that history is so much deep-
er than what we’ve been taught,” Le 
said. “Especially growing up in a 
super white town, I’ve never heard 
of Juneteenth before and (did) not 
learn a lot about Black history. I 
think it’s important to learn about 

2

Thursday, June 25, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NEWS

Thousands march 
in A2 on Juneteenth

The Daily sent reporters 
to 
various 
protests 
across 
Michigan 
throughout 
the 
week. Here are the protests we 
covered.
Breonna Taylor Protest on 
Diag on Sunday, June 14, 2020
About a do0zen community 
members spread across the 
Diag in sleeping bags Sunday to 
honor the memory of Breonna 
Taylor. Taylor, a 26-year-old 
Black woman, was shot and 
killed by a Louisville police 
officer who entered her home 
with a “no-knock warrant” 
in March. The event lasted 
eight hours in remembrance 
of the eight times Taylor was 
shot. Organizers encouraged 
Black protesters to set up their 
sleeping bags in the middle of 
the Diag. Non-Black protesters 
were asked to encircle the 
resting protesters and watch 
for any potential agitators. 
The block “M” in the middle 
of the Diag was covered by a 
blanket. 
University 
of 
Michigan 
Social Work student Dana 
Pittman, Association of Black 
Social Workers member, was 
part of the team that helped 

organize the protest. Pittman 
emphasized that the protest 
on 
the 
Diag 
emphasized 
resting for Black people who 
are fighting racism and to 
symbolize Breonna Taylor’s 
death.
“Today, we really wanted 
to highlight the importance 
of rest and Black rest (and) 
Black bodies. Rest shouldn’t 
be revolutionary, it should 
just be a right,” Pittman said. 
“But sadly, we are not afforded 
that because we always have 
to fight and we always have 
to do the work so we invited 
other people to support us 
in the work so that we didn’t 
have to continuously inform 
them … rest is something we 
really (want) to center in this 
protest.”
Social Work student Leslie 
Tetteh, Association of Black 
Social Workers member, also 
helped organize the protest. 
Tetteh told The Daily being 
active in dismantling racism 
can be tiring and taxing on 
Black people who constantly 
experience prejudice and they 
are doing the best they can 
when it seems more violence is 
continuing to occur. 
“For 
me, 
what’s 
been 
difficult is the overwhelming 
feeling of what we’re doing,” 
Tetteh said. “I think that we 
all are very active in terms 
of 
everything 
that’s 
going 
on (and) making sure we 

Protests in Mich. 
continue strong

Read more at michigandaily.com

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Different events 
throughout the week 
call attention to BLM

Over 2,000 people 
gathered on the Diag to 
celebrate June 19

