HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolutions - 2020.06.25 - 33353MISCELLANEOUS RESOLUTION #20216
BY: Commissioner Angela Powell, District #10; Nancy Quarles, District #17; Gwen Markham, District #9;
William Miller, District #14; Helaine Zack, District #18; Marcia Gershenson, District #13; Penny Luebs,
District #16; Michael Gingell, District #1; Robert Hoffman, District #2; Janet Jackson, District #21; Adam
Kochenderfer, District#15; Eileen Kowall, District#6; Thomas Kuhn, District# 11; Gary McGillivray, District
#20; Thomas Middleton, District #4; Kristen Nelson, District #5; Michael Spisz, District #3; Shelley Taub,
District #12; Philip Weipert, District #8, David Woodward, District #19; Christine Long, District #7
IN RE: BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS — RECOGNITION OF THE 1551" ANNIVERSARY OF
JUNETEENTH AND DESIGNATION OF JUNE 19, 2020 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 1551h 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, 2020 as Juneteenth National Freedom Day in Oakland County and calls upon our
citizens, governmental agencies, businesses and schools to observe this 155th 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.
CY OLS
Commissioner David T. Woodward
District #19
Commissioner Marcia Gershenson
District #13
Commissioner Shelly G. Taub
District #12
Commissioner Bob Hoffman
District #2
Commissioner Michael Spisz
District #3
Commissioner Nancy Quarles
District #17
Commissioner Janet Jackson
District #21
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Commissioner Penny Luebs
District #16
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Commissioner Thomas Kuhn
District #11
Commissioner Angela Powell
District #10
Commissioner William Miller
District #14
Commissioner Michael J. Gingell
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Commissioner Gary R. McGillivray
District #20
Commissioner Thomas F. Middleton
District #4
Commissioner Helaine Zack
District
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Commissioner Adam Kochenderfer
District #15
Commissioner Eileen Kowall
District #6
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Commissioner Christine Long
District #7
Commissioner Philip Weipert
District #8 f
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Commissioner Gwen Markham
District #9
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Commissioner Kristen Nelson
District #5
Resolution #20216 June 25, 2020
Moved by Powell seconded by Quarles to suspend the rules and vote on MR #20216 — Board of
Commissioners — Recognition of the 1551h Anniversary of Juneteenth and Designation of June 19, 2020 as
Juneteenth National Freedom Day in Oakland County.
A sufficient majority having voted in favor, the motion to suspend the rules and vote on MR #20216 — Board
of Commissioners — Recognition of the 155th Anniversary of Juneteenth and Designation of June 19, 2020
as Juneteenth National Freedom Day in Oakland County carried.
Moved by Powell seconded by Quarles the resolution be adopted
Discussion followed.
Moved by Spisz seconded by Jackson to amend the resolution to add all Commissioners as Co -Sponsors.
A sufficient majority having voted in favor, the motion to amend the resolution to add all Commissioners as
Co -Sponsors carried.
Vote on resolution:
AYES: Gingell, Hoffman, Jackson, Kochenderfer, Kowall, Kuhn, Markham, McGillivray, Miller,
Nelson, Powell, Quarles, Spisz, Taub, Weipert, Woodward, Zack, Gershenson. (18)
NAYS: None. (0)
A sufficient majority having voted in favor, the resolution was adopted.
I HEREBY APPROVE THE FOREGOING RESOLUTION
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 25, 2020,
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 Circuit Court at Pontiac,
Michigan this 25th day of June, 2020.
Lisa Brown, Oakland County