Fuzz Martin 0:09
I’m running out of ways to open the show. I’m 46 episodes in. So hi, I’m Fuzz Martin and this is Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz—the show where we cover the positive people, places things, events, businesses, nonprofits, celebrations, community news, and other things going on in and around Washington County, Wisconsin. This episode is launching on Monday, June 13, 2022. This coming Sunday is June 19th. Or as we better know it, Juneteenth Day. This year, Washington County is hosting its third annual Juneteenth Day celebration. And this week, County Executive Josh Schoemann and Chief Health and Human Services Officer Julie Driscoll. Join me to talk about the history of Juneteenth day, what it is, how it got started here in Washington County, and what you can expect at this weekend’s Juneteenth Day celebration. With that, here are 15 minutes on Washington counties Juneteenth Day celebration, with County Executive Schoemann and Julie Driscoll here on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.
Fuzz Martin 1:30
Julie and Josh, thank you for joining me today to talk about Juneteenth in Washington County. Very important date and so but first before we get to what the county is doing for Juneteenth day, and the third annual celebration of Juneteenth they have Joshua can give us a bit of a background on what Juneteenth is.
Josh Schoemann 1:49
Yeah, I can I can give you the thumbnail sketch. So Juneteenth marks the day when federal troops led by at that time Major General Gordon Granger, arrived in Galveston, Texas. So it was 1865 Right at the tail end of the Civil War. And he announced the news that the Civil War was over, and slaves were now free in the United States of America. So it honors the end of slavery in the United States officially, and is considered the longest running African American holiday. So the day is a combination of June and 19th to be Juneteenth in honor of that date, and it first appeared right around 1905 Excuse me, 1903. Okay. It’s also known as African American Freedom Day or Emancipation Day.
Fuzz Martin 2:28
How did we start a Juneteenth Celebration here in Washington County,
Josh Schoemann 2:32
Back in 2020, you’ll remember all the protests around Black Lives Matter. And of course, the COVID year, all that pent up energy. And there was a number here in Washington County, believe it or not, there are people on a corner somewhere with signs and just about every municipality. So I went and visited a few of them just to try to understand first what they thought they were there for and second, like what can we tangibly do? Yeah. And I was in Hartford downtown, the corner of 60 and Main Street, talking to different folks and taking notes. And there was a black woman with her kids who are teenagers. And we got an really interesting discussion. And she was telling me that they had moved out to Hartford, like so many people do to get away from Milwaukee and MPs and crime and wanted her kids to be raised out here. And she said, but the thing that disappoints me most is that there is no acknowledgement or celebration of MLK Day. And nobody celebrates Juneteenth day. That’s That’s my Independence Day. And I looked at her and kind of, “Oh, yeah, sure.” And I walked away and went, “what the hell is Juneteenth Day?”. Sure, yeah. And so I started to do the research that I just read in, you know, was was really moved and thought, Oh, it’s a it’s really the the end of the Civil War in ways that some shared history that I saw, it wasn’t long, and I went in at went to the old war memorial, and by the Tower Heritage Center, the old courthouse and kind of looked at all the names of people who fought in the Civil War from Washington County and thought, well, if people really understood what the state was, we’ve got some shared history, I think can really build some connections and some understanding, and we just that was in May, maybe 2020. And like, Oh, what, four weeks to plan an event, no big deal. And so we threw together a Juneteenth Day, and we had our first in 2020. And now we’re working on our third.
Fuzz Martin 4:31
Excellent, and Well, I’m glad that we’re we’re doing this because I totally agree with you. And my wife as a teacher, she grew up in Chicagoland. And so when she came up here, she’s like, we don’t do any of the of those things that we used to do. It wouldn’t she lives in Illinois, and we don’t recognize a lot of those, at least in the in the rural areas that they do in Milwaukee and some other more populous areas, but it is something that I think is important and it’s it’s good that we’re here in Washington County, recognizing that So kudos to you for, for getting that ball rolling in. And Julie, what is the process been like to get this started when Josh said here, you’ve got four weeks to get it done.
Julie Driscoll 5:09
Yeah, well, um, so so our first annual it was four weeks it was very quick. But you know, the whole purpose and focus that we really had is, is really to maintain sort of a faith focus on this event, as well as being you know, purposeful, intentional and respectful. You know, we’ve been led by to two pastors in Washington County, Pastor Clarissa Martinelli, who is from the Fifth Avenue United Methodist Church, and Pastor Henderson from Barron’s family Worship Center in Germantown. And so they’ve, you know, they’ve really been guiding us. And I think, you know, they’ve been really focusing on helping us to move the needle, right. That’s really the conversation that we’ve been having for the last three years. And so last year, with their guidance, we formed a committee for our second annual Juneteenth day, and we were able to engage two really remarkable speakers, Eugene Pitchford, who’s from Concordia University, and Orlando Owens, who, at that time was out of Senator Ron Johnson’s office, and they came in and really helped to really make the day respectful to really acknowledge the need here in Washington County to help people to just be educated about what Juneteenth day is. And so for this third annual event, we’re following that same format very faith focused pastor Martinelli from the United Methodist Church is our emcee and is guiding us. And we have a really great speaker this year as well. His name is Robert Bell, and he’s a pastor out of the Family Life Church in Milwaukee.
Fuzz Martin 6:38
Excellent. So what does the typical Juneteenth Celebration program look like here in the county,
Josh Schoemann 6:44
A lot different than anybody who’s probably familiar with Juneteenth, Milwaukee, or Juneteenth Houston, which as you might imagine, Houston was kind of the birthplace, if you will, or at least had the largest celebration. This is more like Memorial Day here in West Bend, you know, very much a solemn kind of event where people are really learning and taking in what the day is about. So for us, we just tried to make it something where they’re hearing a message that most people around here have actually never heard before. They’re learning what I learned back in 2020, for the first time ever, in many cases, and just trying to understand some of the customs and the cultures. So last year, for example, we had what we learned to be a tradition of Juneteenth Day, red velvet cake and strawberry soda and some palm readings, some songs and hymns actually, that are related to the day. So it’s just a little taste of what’s important about this day.
Fuzz Martin 7:39
Talk about a bit about the actual program. So we’ve got the—you said it’s faith based, they have an invocation and such as right, and then we go into some other portions of the actual event for the day.
Julie Driscoll 7:52
Yeah. So you know, it starts with the invocation. We have some songs as Josh indicated, you know, our national anthem, and another song, which is actually a hymn from the 1900s called Lift Every Voice and Sing. And then there are some poems that are read by some students. This year, we’ve engaged some students from the Germantown High School and Rockfield Elementary, in Germantown. And so there’ll be reciting some poems that are connected to Juneteenth. And then we have a speaker they discussed before Pastor Robert Bell is kind of the main speaker and his theme, or his message is really about the courage to be different. And he was really struck by the fact that we were doing this event here in Washington County, just knowing the makeup of our county, and really said it was very courageous, and that we were sort of helping to lead that message here in our community. And so that’s the theme that he’ll discuss. And then there’ll be a closing. And then afterwards, there’ll be a bit of a celebration, where we’ll be serving strawberry soda and red velvet cake. This year, we’ll also be giving out some children’s books that talk about Juneteenth day, to just help people to understand a little bit more about the history and what it’s all about.
Fuzz Martin 9:02
So Julie, can you give us some of the details? Obviously, it’s going to take place on June 19. But when and where what time, and where’s the Juneteenth Celebration going to happen here in Washington County?
Julie Driscoll 9:13
Yep. So it’s Sunday, June 19. Father’s Day, great day to get outside and celebrate that wonderful day. It’s at one o’clock here in downtown West Bend. The event will be hosted at the old County Courthouse. I think the whole event will probably take about an hour. And there’ll be some some opportunity for you know, mingling and celebration at the end,
Fuzz Martin 9:33
Perfect, and then if people want to support the cause. How can they do so? Yeah. So this
Julie Driscoll 9:37
year, we’re wanting to expand our committee and we’re wanting to expand, you know, people who are interested in and invested in in furthering and continuing this celebration. And so we’re going to have an opportunity for people to use a QR code at the event so that they can provide us their name and information and what they might be interested in supporting or being involved in next year’s event.
Fuzz Martin 9:59
Again, to both of you Julian, Josh, the idea that we have this now in Washington County, and that we’re going to continue the celebration and recognize and not just when things were really burning hot with the Black Lives Matter movement, and George Floyd and those things, but even just continuing this and starting a tradition, for this to happen here in our county, I think is important. And I, again, praise you both for having the courage to do this and getting it rolling here in our county to help not only support those here who live in our county, who now have a day to reflect and to celebrate, but then also for the education of our citizens here in Washington County, the residents and children. So thank you.
Josh Schoemann 10:40
Well, thank you and in true form to how we’ve tried to set this up, I gotta give the honor to the people who, who made this all possible the Emancipation Proclamation, the folks who fought in the Civil War, the ancestors of were slaves who brought themselves out and have built themselves up and obviously Glory to God. I mean, this is it’s, it’s kind of interesting to hear it referred to as courageous because it was simply it seemed like just the right thing to do. And it seems like something that’s very unifying. We have so many things in society right now that are tearing us apart. What better way than to bring ourselves together in a shared history and a shared understanding and, and that’s what we hope it’s about. I mean, I’m excited for the 19th I’ve the last couple of years, I’ve been excited for the 19th I think it’d be a great event. And Father’s Day is so very special as well to do them together I think is going to be very cool. Look forward to seeing people out there. Perfect.
Fuzz Martin 11:32
Thanks again. Thank you. Thanks again to county executive Josh Schoemann and Washington County’s Chief Health and Human Services Officer Julie Driscoll for joining me on this week’s episode of Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. I hope you will join them at the Tower Heritage Center in West Bend for this year’s Juneteenth Day celebration. If you like this show, please be sure to subscribe on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts or wherever you’d like to listen to podcasts. You can also find more information about the show at fifteenwithfuzz.com. That’s fifteenwithfuzz.com new episodes arrive in your favorite pod catcher every Monday morning at midnight. I wake up early, just like a baker. put this all together. I don’t I schedule it. I scheduled this on Friday. So there. Thanks again. Have a great week and we’ll talk to you next Monday right here on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.
