SPTP-DC and Partners Announce a Juneteenth Week of Education and Celebration
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 18, 2018
Media Contact:
Bailey Cox, 479-220-8925
April Goggans, 202-250-4541
stoppoliceterrorprojectdc@gmail.com
Stop Police Terror Project-DC and Partners Announce a Juneteenth Week of Education and Celebration
Washington, DC -- On June 18, 2018, Stop Police Terror Project-DC in partnership with Black Lives Matter-DC, Keep DC 4 Me, BYP100, Pan-African Community Action, ACLU-DC and Showing up for Racial Justice-DC will launch a week of events around Juneteenth.
Juneteenth serves as a historical milestone that honors those African-American ancestors who survived bondage and a celebration of the Black community's legacy of resistance, perseverance, and the strength of their human spirit. We mark Juneteenth not just as a day of remembrance but also as an acknowledgement that the struggle that began centuries ago continues today. It cannot be ignored that during the five weeks around this month of celebration three members of DC’s Black community have been murdered by police. Juneteenth allows us to take time to uplift a community so often under attack.
SPTP-DC core organizer Natacia Knapper says, “We want to give the DC community opportunities to both celebrate Juneteenth and Black liberation and to examine the many ways in which our current police grew out of systems set up to preserve and maintain slavery. To undo the systemic oppression that led to our police and prison state, we must come together and learn from each other what true safety and liberation means.”
This week of celebration is a reminder that the Black community will always fight to survive and will find joy in struggle. In the names of Jeffrey Price, D’Quan Young, Marqueese Alston, Terrence Sterling, and so many more, we will persevere and we will take care of each other.
Details on the week of events:
June 18th from 6:00 - 8:30 PM The Cost of Criminalized Blackness: A Community Conversation at Anacostia Arts Center (A Black-only space)
June 19th from 5:00 - 8:00 PM Juneteenth Community Learning Event and Barbecue, hosted by ONE-DC in partnership with SPTP-DC located at the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum
June 20th from 4:00 - 8:30 PM Liberation Fundraiser and Happy Hour to benefit SPTP-DC at Smith Public Trust
June 21st from 6:30 - 8:00 PM The End of Policing Book Event with author, activist, and sociologist Alex Vitale at The Potter's House
June 22nd from 6:00 - 9:00 PM Prison Letter Writing Potluck at Check It Enterprises
June 23rd from 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM Juneteenth Community Picnic & Resource Fair at Marvin Gaye Park & the Riverside Recreation Center