Opal Lee marches for Juneteenth national holiday, says protests have ‘made it urgent’
Opal Lee has been fighting to make Juneteenth a national holiday for more than four decades.
On Friday, the 93-year-old activist continued that fight by marching 2.5 miles down West Lancaster Avenue — a distance symbolizing the 2.5 years it took for slaves in Texas to realize they had been freed.
A line of more than 150 cars followed her lead as she marched from the Fort Worth Convention Center to a parking lot near Will Rogers Memorial Center.
As Congress considers legislation to make Juneteenth a national holiday, Lee believes that the time has finally come.
“I think the climate now — the protests, the virus — has made it urgent to get something done as quickly as possible,” Lee said. “It would be wonderful for it to happen on the 19th of June but if not now, soon.”
She thinks that it’s the young men and women who have been protesting the deaths of unarmed Black people that are the ones who must continue her legacy of fighting for social justice.
“We have gone through these same things over and over again and let’s hope that this is the last time we have to go through it,” Lee said. “It’s left up to them to take that protest to the table and take that energy to get some things done. We’ve tried, Martin Luther King tried, others have tried. So, let them be the ones that make change happen.”
The march kicked off at 10 a.m. but some were gathered at the Convention Center a little earlier during a meet-and-greet.
“My family was one of the families affected by the Tulsa massacre in Oklahoma, so I’m here to support my family and my history,” said 37-year-old Andréa Hall. “It’s American history. It’s not just my family’s history, it’s history that’s important for everyone to know, no matter your race. It’s a holiday just like Christmas or Easter.”
Lee’s family was also terrorized by a white mob. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram recently told the story of a 12-year-old girl whose home was burnt down by white rioters on June 19, 1939.
That little girl was Opal Lee.
More than 80 years later, some believe that a “sea of change” has flooded the country in regard to policing and racial inequality.
“I’m feeling more optimistic than I was a few weeks ago before the death of George Floyd. I’ve been seeing a positive sea of change as far as public opinion when it comes to police brutality and systemic inequalities,” said Tré Jones, 28, who participated in the march.
Since the death of Floyd, conversations have gained a foothold nationwide about Confederate monuments and reviews of police department policies.
Some are even calling for the curriculum in K-12 schools to teach more thoroughly the history of Juneteenth and slavery.
“I think a lot of it is just now brought to light because of Mr. Floyd, but it should have been discussed way more in the classrooms,” said 37-year-old Candice Puente. “They don’t teach you slavery the way it needs to be taught. They don’t teach you about Black history the way it should be taught.”
“Opal Lee has stood her ground for justice even after they destroyed her home and that’s what we’re doing right now. We’re standing our ground for Black Lives Matter,” Puente said.
This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 2:15 PM.