ATTACHMENT 1
CITY OF NAPA
PROCLAMATION
In Recognition of Juneteenth
WHEREAS, our country is made up of people from every nation on earth, who are declared equal not only in freedom but also in justice, both of which are essential for a healthy human civilization; and WHEREAS, our nation was conceived on July 4th, 1776 with the Declaration of Independence, the classic statement being: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”; and WHEREAS, on January 1, 1863, using his war powers as President, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, providing that all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free;” and WHEREAS, the Emancipation Proclamation made the permanent abolition of slavery a Union war aim and provided the legal framework for the emancipation of nearly all four million slaves as the Union armies advanced; and WHEREAS, hearing of the Proclamation, many slaves escaped to Union lines as the army units moved south; and WHEREAS, on June 19, 1865, almost 2 ½ years later, Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced the end of both the Civil War and slavery, with the announcement: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free”; and WHEREAS, Texans began the celebration of Juneteenth in 1866, with community events such as parades, cookouts, prayer gatherings, musical performances and historical cultural readings; some communities purchased land for Juneteenth celebrations, such as Emancipation Park in Houston, TX; and as freed families emigrated from Texas to other parts of the United States, they carried the Juneteenth celebration with them; and WHEREAS, Al Edwards, a freshman Texas state representative, put forward the bill, H.B. 1016, in 1979 making Texas the first state to grant this emancipation celebration and adopting Juneteenth as an official Texas state holiday; and WHEREAS, on June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed a bill establishing Juneteenth National Independence Day as the twelfth federal public holiday and the first one established since Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday was recognized in 1983; and WHEREAS, Napa recognizes Juneteenth as a day of reflection and remembrance and an opportunity to truthfully learn about and acknowledge this period in our history, seek to understand the experience of others, and commit ourselves to significant and lasting improvements in the City of Napa and in the United States.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED We the Napa City Council, do hereby proclaim June 19th, 2022, as Juneteenth in Napa, and invite community members to be celebrate on June 16th at 10:00 am in front of City Hall with a commemorative ceremony recognizing the day.
Dated: June 7th, 2022
________________________________
MARY LUROS, VICE MAYOR
CITY OF NAPA