HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolutions - 2018.06.13 - 23660Cokrnipioner Npfiky-trilarles
DistNct #1;7„
II
Commt sioner Hugh Clraw- ford
District #9
1,
REQUESTING SUSPENSION
OF THE BOARD RULES FOR
IMMEDIATE CONSIDERATION
UNDER NEW BUSINESS
MISCELLANEOUS RESOLUTION #18249 .
BY: Commissioners Nancy Quarles, District #17; David E.S. Bowman, District #10; Hugh Crawford,
District #9; Eileen Kowall, Distript #6; David__Wfodwar , District #19; Bob Hoffman, District #2; and
Helaine Zack, District #18 c OluurtAA- ke-IA-C-01
IN RE: BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS — RECOGNITION OF 11-FIE 153rd ANNIVERSARY OF
JUNETEENTH AND DESIGNATION OF JUNE 19, 2018 AS JUNETEENTH NATIONAL FREEDOM
DAY IN OAKLAND COUNTY
To the Oakland County Board of Commissioners
Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen:
WHEREAS Juneteenth National Freedom Day, also known as "Emancipation Day", "Emancipation
Celebration", "Freedom Day", "Jun-Jun", ''Juneteenth Independence Day" and "Second Independence
Day", commemorates the survival of African-Americans who were first brought to this country stacked in
the bottom of slave ships in a month-long journey across the Atlantic Ocean known as the "Middle
Passage; and
WHEREAS approximately eleven and one-half million African-Americans survived the voyage to the New
World, the number that died is likely greater, only to be subjected to whipping, castration, branding, rape,
tearing apart of families and forced to submit to slavery for more than 200 years after arrival in the United
States; and
WHEREAS Juneteenth commemorates the day freedom was proclaimed to all slaves in the south by
Union General Granger, on June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, more than two and a half years after the
signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln; and
WHEREAS President Barack Obama had proclaimed, "Juneteenth marked an important moment in the
life of our nation. But it was only the beginning of a long and difficult struggle for equal rights and equal
treatment under the law."; and
WHEREAS the U.S. Congress passed a resolution officially recognizing June 19th as Juneteenth
Independence Day in the United States in 1997 and efforts are ongoing to create a permanent holiday
designation; and
WHEREAS Michigan is one of 45 states to officially establish a Juneteenth holiday, beginning in 2005,
when state law was enacted designating the third Saturday of each June as Juneteenth National
Freedom Day in the State of Michigan; and
WHEREAS Americans of all colors, creeds, cultures, religions and countries of origin, share in a common
love of and respect for freedom, as well as a determination to protect their right to freedom through
democratic institutions by which the tenets of freedom are guaranteed and protected; and
WHEREAS "Until All are Free, None are Free" is an often repeated maxim that can be used to highlight
the significance of the end of the era of slavery in the United States; and
WHEREAS on the 153Fd anniversary of Juneteenth, Oakland County citizens should be encouraged to
honor and reflect upon the unique sacrifices of African Americans to achieve their freedom, fair treatment
and equal rights.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Oakland County Board of Commissioners hereby
designates June 19, 2018 as Juneteenth National Freedom Day in Oakland County and calls upon our
citizens, governmental agencies, businesses and schools to observe this 153'd anniversary by honoring
the unique sacrifices of African Americans in their struggle for freedom and equality.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Oakland County Clerk is requested to forward copies of this
adopted resolution to the National Juneteenth Observation Foundation, the Michigan Juneteenth Chapter,
the Detroit Branch of the NAACP, the Southern Oakland County Chapter of the NAACP, the Northern
Oakland County Chapter of the NAACP and Oakland Schools.
Chairperson, I move the adoption of the foregoing Resolution.
CCSmHissssiioonneerr EElleeen oowwaall
District #6
Commissioner Helaine Zack
District #18
ommiSsioner David Woodwahl
District #19
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Resolution #18249 June 13, 2018
Moved by Quarles supported by Bowman to suspend the rules and vote on Miscellaneous Resolution
#18249 — Board of Commissioners — Recognition of the 153rd Anniversary of Juneteenth and Designation
of June 19, 2018 as Juneteenth National Freedom Day in Oakland County.
Vote on motion to suspend the rules:
AYES: Fleming, Gershenson, Hoffman, Jackson, Kochenderfer, KowaII, Long, McGillivray,
Middleton, Quarles, Spisz, Taub, Tietz, Weipert, Woodward, Zack, Berman, Bowman,
Crawford. (19)
NAYS: None. (0)
A sufficient majority having voted in favor, the motion to suspend the rules and vote on Miscellaneous
Resolution #18249 — Board of Commissioners — Recognition of the 153rd Anniversary of Juneteenth and
Designation of June 19, 2018 as Juneteenth National Freedom Day in Oakland County carried.
Moved by Quarles supported by Bowman the resolution be adopted.
Vote on resolution:
AYES: Gershenson, Hoffman, Jackson, Kochenderfer, KowaII, Long, McGillivray, Middleton,
Quarles, Spisz, Taub, Tietz, Weipert, Woodward, Zack, Berman, Bowman, Crawford,
Fleming. (19)
NAYS: None. (0)
A sufficient majority having voted in favor, the resolution was adopted.
1)1
I HSFIEBY APPROVE THIS RESOLUTION
CHIEF DEPUTY COUNTY EXECUTIVE
ACTING PURSUANT TO MCL 45.559A (7)
STATE OF MICHIGAN)
COUNTY OF OAKLAND)
I, Lisa Brown, Clerk of the County of Oakland, do hereby certify that the foregoing resolution is a true and
accurate copy of a resolution adopted by the Oakland County Board of Commissioners on June 13, 2018,
with the original record thereof now remaining in my office.
In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the County of Oakland at
Pontiac, Michigan this 13th day of June, 2018.
Lisa Brown, Oakland County