HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolutions - 2022.06.23 - 37416BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
June 23, 2022
i•IISCELLANEOtTS RESOLUTION #22-219
Sponsored By: Christine Long, Charles Cavell. Marcia Gershenson, Janet Jackson, Penny Luebs, David
Woodward, Yolanda Smith Charles, Gwen Markham, Gary McGillivray, William Miller IIt, Kristen Nelson.
Angela Powell, Michael Gingell, Robert Hoffman, Eileen Kowall. Michael Spisz, Philip Weipert, Karen Joliat.
Adam Koclnenderfer
Board of Commissioners - Resolution Recognizing the 157th Anniversary of Juneteenth and Designating
June 19, 2022, as Juneteenth National Freedom Day in Oakland County
Chairperson and Members of the Board:
WHEREAS Juneteenth National Freedom Day, also known as "Emancipation Day", "Emancipation
Celebration", "Freedom Day", "Tun -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 stu•vived 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 slaven, 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 yeas after the signing of the
Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln: and
WHEREAS President Barack Obania 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 corm -non 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 rnaxirn that can be used to highlight the
significance of the end of the era of slavery in the United States; and
WHEREAS on the 156th 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.
NOXV THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Oakland County Board of Commissioners hereby
designates June 19, 2022, as Juneteenth National Freedom Day in Oakland County and calls upon our citizens.
governmental agencies. businesses and schools to observe this 156th 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 Ju ieteenth 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, the following Commissioners are sponsoring the foregoing Resolution: Christine Long, Charles
Cavell, Marcia Gershenson, Janet Jackson, Penny Luebs, David Woodward, Yolanda Smith Charles,
Gwen Markham, Gary McGillivray, William Miller III, Kristen Nelson, Angela Powell, Michael Gingell,
Robert Hoffman, Eileen Kowall, Michael Spisz, Philip Weipert, Karen Joliat, Adam Kochenderfer.
Date: June 27, 2022
David Woodward, Commissioner
Date; June 29, 2022
David Coulter, Oakland County Executive
C
Date: June 30, 2022
Lisa Brown, County Clerk / Register of Deeds
COMMITTEE TRACKING
2022-06-14 Legislative Affairs & Government Operations - reconunend to Board
2022-06-23 Full Board
VOTE TRACKING
Motioned by Commissioner Charles Cavell seconded by Commissioner Michael Gingell to adopt the attached
Resolution: Recognizing the 157th Anniversary of Juneteenth and Designating Tune 19. 2022, as Juneteenth
National Freedom Day in Oakland County,
Yes: David Woodward, Michael Gingell. Karen Joliat. Kristen Nelson, Eileen Kowall, Angela Powell,
Thomas Kuhn, Chuck Moss, Marcia Gershenson, William Miller IIL Yolanda Smith Charles. Charles
Cavell, Penny Luebs, Janet Jackson, Gary McGillivray, Robert Hoffman, Adam Kochenderfer (17)
No: Christine Long. Philip'Weipert (2)
Abstain: None (0)
Absent: (0)
Passed
ATTACHMENTS
None
STATE OF A4ICHIGAN)
COUNTY" OF OAKLAND)
I, Lisa Brown, Clerk of the County of Oakland, do hereby certify that the foregoing resolution is a hlie and
accurate copy of a resolution adopted by the Oakland County Board of Commissioners on June 23, 2022, with
the original record thereof now remaining in my office,
In Testunony Whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the Circuit Court at Pontiac,
Michigan on Thursday, June 23, 2022.
Liso Brown, Ooklcrncl CounlY C7erkl Register of Deeds