Juneteenth NYC Festival honors fathers at Prospect Park party
NEW YORK - The 14th Juneteenth NYC Festival ended Sunday with a party in Prospect Park. Organizers of the three-day event honored fathers and freedom.
A parade of proud fathers led the way from Grand Army Plaza, showing the strength to show up in their children's lives.
"There's a narrative that's constructed that somehow we're not around, not doing what we're supposed to, but we're here, so it's a great day to celebrate that," said NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Sponsors delivered meals for the dads in appreciation, allowing them to enjoy the holiday weekend worry-free. Organizers want them to feel safe and seen, in a world that often offers otherwise, more than 150 years since slavery ended.
"We're still having challenges that are unrealistic, where people are being killed for just breathing," said Juneteenth NYC CEO and founder Athenia Rodney. "I have three children. I have a husband. They're all African-American, and every day that they go out and I'm not with them, it scares me."
As the fight for civil rights continues, Juneteenth NYC also uplifted Black entrepreneurs, whose ancestors never had a chance to show their excellence.
"I want us to be able to change the narrative about ourselves that we have in our mind, because we are not the slavery that we came from," Rodney said. "We're better than that."
Thirteen-year-old author and jewelry maker Jaida Germain wants to encourage her peers to embrace their natural hair and honor their roots.
"It really means a lot knowing that I have the opportunity to have a business," Germain said. "Back then a lot of Black people weren't able to have a business, and if they tried to pursue one, they would get in trouble or locked up."
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With the festival in its 14th year, local leaders say it feels even more special now with support for freedom on a federal level.
"It really shows that our work goes a long way," said District 36 council member Chi Osse, "and to get that reception from the president means a lot to me and to the community as well."
They hope America can carry on the energy of equality every day of the year.
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