Next month, people across Orange County and the U.S. will come together with music, food and games to celebrate freedom and Juneteenth – the day slavery actually came to an end for all Black Americans more than 160 years ago.

A host of cities in OC and organizing groups are already planning events at local parks to celebrate the day together and reflect on the past and what it means to be free.

Dwayne Shipp, President of the OC Heritage Council, said in a phone interview Friday, that the day teaches people about the importance of maintaining unity and equality for everyone.

“Juneteenth is more than a celebration, it represents a turning point in our nation’s history. A day where freedom became a right for all,” he said. 

Juneteenth commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans were freed on June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

The day has been recently established as a federal holiday after President Joe Biden signed legislation in June 2021 establishing Junteenth as a national holiday. 

Who Will Organize Juneteenth in Santa Ana?

Booths with community organizations and merchandise stores at the 2023 Juneteenth Festival on June 17, 2023. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC.

For the past couple of years Juneteenth celebrations in Santa Ana have been organized by the Orange County Heritage Council – a local nonprofit that develops events on Black history  and culture.

Shipp’s group created and hosted the first one on their own in 2021 and then partnered with the city in 2022 and 2023 for the annual Juneteenth celebration.

[Read: Celebrating Freedom on Juneteenth]

But they won’t be doing it this year.

The city instead awarded $40,000 to Soundskilz Inc., an entertainment service provider based in Temecula to host this year’s Juneteenth Celebration on June 22. 

A representative of Soundskilz, who did not provide his name, refused to comment on the celebration and some of the concerns being raised about it by the heritage council before hanging up on a reporter Monday.

The exact location of the event and featured acts and performances are still unknown, said Paul Eakins, Santa Ana’s public information officer, over the phone on Thursday.

Acting City Manager Alvaro Nuñez said at the April 16 city council meeting that a request for proposals went out in November to contract a group to host the Juneteenth celebration this year and that the OC Heritage Council was informed of the process but did not apply.

Shipp said Santa Ana was not hosting a Juneteenth festival before the heritage council started to do so a couple years ago and the request for proposal came at a time when he was mourning the loss of his father.

“Why are we applying for a job we created? Why would I apply for a position that we created? The city has no knowledge of doing Juneteenth events. The city has no history of doing anything for African American people,” he said. “We created this event.”

The stage at the 2023 Juneteenth Festival at Centennial Park on June 17, 2023. Throughout the day, many Black artists and performers frequented the stage. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC.

Councilwoman Thai Viet Phan said at the meeting that in the past issues have been raised that city officials have “treated their friends” better than other organizations and using a process to bid out contracts is intended to prevent that.

Mayor Valerie Amezcua and Councilman David Peñaloza agreed.

“Because we’re awarding tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars, it needs to be a clean process and an RFP where anybody and everybody has equal access to apply and go through,” Peñaloza said. 

Shipp questioned where “everybody” else was when the heritage council created the event.

The Santa Ana City Council meeting during public comment Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2022. Credit: JACK SUNDBLAD, Voice of OC

There has been pushback from a host of residents and OC Heritage Council members who have emailed officials and spoken out at recent council meetings to let them organize the event once again.

They have also questioned the city’s move to contract a non-Black organization outside of Santa Ana to take over the reins of the event.

Shedric Collins, an Orange County Heritage Council representative and long-time Santa Ana resident, said at the meeting that the city creating an open bid on the event and not including the organization in conversations leading to that decision is telling of the city’s priorities.

“We asked to put this event on and the city of Santa Ana embraced it. Everyone was all up in arms about diversity and inclusion, and now it’s just a checkbox that you’re using it for,” he said.

“How are you going to have a white organization come take over an event that directly impacts people of color?”

Amezcua said they can’t award contracts based on “what someone looks like.”

“We do not and we cannot and should not tell any department, you’re going to hire this band or that band. There’s a process,” Amezcua said at the April 16 meeting. “We can’t sit here and play favorites or say you must look like us.”

Shipp said his organization was offered by the city a couple thousand dollars to hold a booth at the festival and have some time on stage this year but they declined the offer.

“The culture is not for sale,” he said.

The OC Heritage Council is expected to hold their Juneteenth celebration in Anaheim this year instead.

Charisse Lyseight, 62, at the 2023 Juneteenth Festival at Centennial Park on June 17, 2023. “Juneteenth represents our culture, what we believe and how we join together as a people,” Lyseight said. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC.

This is not the first time a cultural event hosted by the heritage council in Santa Ana has moved to Anaheim.

The annual OC Black History Parade & Unity Festival started in 1980 by Dwayne’s mom, the late Helen Shipp who lived in Santa Ana, moved to Anaheim over 10 years ago.

Eakins said that OC Heritage Council chose to move their Black history parade outside of the city and “that was not the City of Santa Ana’s decision” and pushed back against claims that there has been a pattern of pushing out Black cultural celebrations in the city.

“And the City just began hosting Juneteenth celebrations for the first time ever here, and we have another one being celebrated this June,” he said in an email. “So we’re actually adding new Black cultural events.”

Shipp said they moved the parade because the cost for police kept going up.

“They basically financially ran it out of the city,” he said. 

Councilman Johnathan Hernandez called on staff to bring back a report on hosting future Juneteenth celebrations in the city with the Heritage Council.

“This event should be led by residents from our city, and from the respective community members who were affected by 400 years of slavery,” he said at the April 16 meeting. “They had the longest lasting parade in the city’s history until it was defunded and pushed out. I don’t want history to repeat itself.”

Buena Park & Other Cities Commemorate Juneteenth

A three-day celebration of Juneteenth took place at the Segerstrom Center of the Arts in June 2022. In June 2024, the center will celebrate Black Music Month as part of their Summer Sounds concert series. Credit: Photo courtesy of Segerstrom Center for the Arts

Buena Park city officials are moving forward with a Juneteenth celebration at Boisseranc Park on June 19th from 6 p.m.to 9 p.m. allocating a little over $11,000 for the event.

The celebration is being organized by the city’s cultural engagement commission, community services commission and community members and is expected to include food, games for kids, a twilight swim, live performances including a concert by the band Biscuits and Gravy Live.

“Buena Park I think really sets a good standard for the events that should be a priority in their cities,” said Councilman Connor Traut at the April 23 city council meeting. “I hope we’re really setting the new trend for other cities to follow in future years.”

BIPOC Orange County, a community group, is co-hosting a Juneteenth celebration with the city of Irvine at the Great Park on June 22 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The event is free and features a cultural market place and food village.

In Anaheim, the Orange County Heritage Council is hosting their celebration on June 15 from 12-7 p.m. at Pearsons Park.

Mike Lyster, Anaheim city spokesman, said in an email to Voice of OC the celebration’s move to Anaheim this year came about quickly and the city will support it with outreach and use of parking structures.

“Anaheim is proud to be home to the county’s largest African American population at about 10,000 residents, and Juneteenth is a milestone day for the community and for American history in general,” said.

“It is a day we can all celebrate, marking a formal end to a painful chapter in early American history.” 

Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.

Hugo Rios is a Voice of OC intern. Contact him at hugo.toni.rios@gmail.com or on Twitter @hugoriosss

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