CITY OF NAPA
PROCLAMATION
In Recognition of Juneteenth
WHEREAS, the theme for Juneteenth 2025 is “A Reckoning: Reclaiming the Past, Remembering Black Voices, Reshaping the Future”. We combine together three important narratives – stories that disrupt the illusion of separate racial histories and identities in America; and WHEREAS, on January 1, 1863, 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, 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 - recognized in 1983; and WHEREAS, Napa acknowledges Juneteenth as a day to 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, that I, Scott Sedgley, Mayor of the City of Napa, along with the City Council, do hereby proclaim June 19th, 2025, as the Juneteenth National Independence Day and above all, recognize Juneteenth as a day of reflection and remembrance and an opportunity to truthfully learn about and acknowledge this period in our history.
Dated: June 17, 2025
________________________________
SCOTT SEDGLEY, MAYOR
CITY OF NAPA
ATTACHMENT 1