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Celebrate Juneteenth by learning more about our collective history

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As Sound Transit prepares for the second celebration of Juneteenth as a federal holiday, it is time to pause and recognize that for our Black riders, this is not a new holiday, but a long overdue day of remembrance.

It is more than a paid day of rest from work. It is the remembrance of a day that finally made real the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation and its eve [Watch Night], when people stayed up to watch for freedom that was to take effect on Jan. 1, 1863.

And while there will be picnics and celebrations, for many there will also be solemnness and a sadness over the fact Black people still face racism.

We encourage you to observe Juneteenth by learning about our country’s hidden history—in the words of Delbert Richardson, who brought an exhibit to Union Station several years ago—our “Untold Truths.”

Juneteenth is a good time to learn the rest of the story about why people in Galveston, Texas, remained enslaved until June 19, 1865.

Here are some great resources we’ve shared with our employees to learn more about the holiday, we hope you will do the same.

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(Brooke Belman is the Sound Transit Interim Chief Executive Officer)

 

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