McHenry County residents observe first federal Juneteenth holiday

President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law on Thursday.

From the front of a Crystal Lake church on Sunday, a deep voice carried a somber but hopeful tune that spoke of freedom from slavery and “a promised land where all is peace.”

The service at First Congregational Church of Crystal Lake on Sunday was the first of its kind. Throughout the morning, the church’s anti-racism task force spoke to its congregation about the history of Juneteenth and the ongoing consequences of systemic racism.

“It’s a sober reminder that we kept people in bondage even after the Emancipation Proclamation, and it’s a reminder that we keep people in bondage still,” Pastor Emily Davis said.

Saturday marked the first federally recognized Juneteenth holiday, a celebration of the end of slavery in the U.S.

State offices were closed on Friday after Gov. JB Pritzker announced observance of Juneteenth in accordance with new state law and President Joe Biden’s enacting federal legislation.

Although the day only recently became a state and federal holiday, people have celebrated June 19 for more than a century. It commemorates the date in 1865 when news of the abolition of slavery reached the Black communities in Galveston, Texas – more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

“Slavery is the historical fact we grossly under teach,” said Joseph Flynn, the associate director for academic affairs of the Center for Black Studies and an associate professor of curriculum and instruction at Northern Illinois University. “Since we don’t really teach about slavery very well and the nation isn’t well informed about the history of slavery, there is a misunderstanding, misrepresentation as well as minimizing of the impact slavery has had on our nation.”

Biden on Thursday signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, designating Juneteenth National Independence Day as a legal public holiday. The day also is recognized by some as Juneteenth National Independence Day and Emancipation Day.

“Juneteenth marks both the long, hard night of slavery and subjugation and a promise of a brighter morning to come. This is a day of profound – in my view – profound weight and profound power,” Biden said. “A day in which we remember the moral stain, the terrible toll that slavery took on the country and continues to take – what I’ve long called ‘America’s original sin.’”

The act passed with a majority of 415 yes votes.

“We can’t really understand America without understanding slavery and I think Juneteenth can now serve as this entryway into having deeper conversations into not the moment in history, but the era in history that lasted 250 years,” Flynn said.

U.S. Reps. Adam Kinzinger, Lauren Underwood and Sean Casten, all representing Illinois, each voted in favor of the act. Fourteen representatives voted against it.

“If you have a problem with Juneteenth, then invariably that kind of means you have a problem with freedom,” Flynn said.

In Crystal Lake, First Congregational Church leaders examined what it meant to celebrate Juneteenth as a predominately white congregation.

Together, members mourned the deaths of Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Elijah McClain, Walter Scott, Sandra Bland and Tanisha Anderson.

Ultimately, readings throughout the service invited members to confront their own deep-seated racist beliefs, ones they might harbor unknowingly.

“My big takeaway this year is that it’s OK not to know everything,” said Linnae Babbick, one of the church’s anti-racist task force members. “To ask questions even if it makes me feel vulnerable and allow myself some grace along the way.”

Babick was moved about 20 years ago by an anti-racist church retreat she helped lead and which forced her to face her own privilege.

“It was during one of those retreats that I met a Black leader who was probably in her 50s at the time. She had grown up in the South and had marched with [Martin Luther King Jr.] and had been denied the ability to enter restaurants, hotels, use water fountains, etc.,” Babick said. “One night while eating dinner she boldly asked me, ‘What do you possibly know about racism?’ I have to tell you that question threw me for a loop.”

Babick explained that she was there to help fight racism and make a difference, but in hindsight, she wished she offered a more honest answer.

“Her words would continue to haunt me to this very day,” Babick said. “Because you see, looking back, if I was being completely truthful with her I would have said it’s true that I came here to help and I truly believe in the anti-racist awareness campaign, but after participating in all the exercises and events of this weekend, I now know that I harbor a lot of racist ideologies and I had discovered beliefs that were so deeply buried inside of me that I didn’t know they existed until now.”

· Northwest Herald reporter Sam Lounsberry contributed to this article.