The Austin Gay and Lesbian Pride Foundation had a rally to commemorate Stonewall at the Texas State Capitol June 28. The event was especially significant in light of New York passaging gay marriage June 24.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Juneteenth Austin 2011
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| Kathie Tovo, who won a runoff race for Austin City Council held June 18, rides in the Juneteenth parade. Her opponent Randi Shade along was also in the parade along with many other local officials, including mayor Lee Leffingwell. |
June 19th, called Juneteenth, marks the anniversary of the day when General Gordon Granger announced the end of the Civil War and the end of slavery in both the state and the nation, two years after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
Ashley Robinson, president of the Black Student Alliance at the University of Texas at Austin, said the group encouraged members to attend local festivities.
“I think it’s a really good time for everyone to remember their roots and spend time with their families,” she said. “Especially as college students, we tend to forget that.”
“I think it’s a really good time for everyone to remember their roots and spend time with their families,” she said. “Especially as college students, we tend to forget that.”
On June 17, the city of Austin broke ground on the new African American Cultural and Heritage Facility, in a ceremony attended by about 150 people, said project coordinator Sandra Harkins. The city plans to complete $4.4 million building by next year. The facility will house the ProArts Collective and Capital City African-American Chamber of Commerce. The Dedrick-Hamilton House, the home of one of the earliest freed slaves in Travis County, will be an information bureau for the African American Cultural Heritage District.
“The development of this facility will benefit Austin, not only in terms of culture, diversity, resources, tourism, but also economically,” Harkins said in an email.
The facility was established to meet needs outlined by the 2005 African American Quality of Life Initiative. Harkins said the city began this initiative to address racial tensions sparked by incidents such as one in which Austin Police Department officers sent each other offensive text messages about a fire to a club in East Austin.
“The city had experienced a series of serious incidents that raised community concerns about race relations and eroded trust with our African American population,” she said.
Harkins said the new facility will help address African-Americans feeling as if they do not belong in the community, a problem identified by the task force.
“One specific concern raised was that Austin lacks the kind of social and cultural infrastructure for African Americans that create a sense of belonging,” she said. “In other words, there is no critical mass of African American business ownership, as well as any vital art or entertainment scene for middle class singles and couples.”
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| About 30 people prepare for a 2K Freedom Run to raise awareness of issues in African-American health community June 18. The run, parade and historical program were all organized by the Greater East Austin Youth Association. |
“[There were] two years we were deprived the freedom we didn’t get because the people of Texas still thought they wanted the free labor,” he said. “It’s important not to forget that.”
At 9:30 a.m., the association hosted a 2K freedom run, with 33 people traveling along the parade route between the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Comal Street to Rosewood Park. The freedom run marked the end of slavery and focused on health issues facing African-Americans, Dawson said.
“Once African-Americans found out they were free, they were able to walk freely wherever they wanted to go,” Dawson said. “It’s also to let black people know that you have to be healthy; do healthy things because of the diabetes and heart disease that runs through the African-American community.”
African-American adults are twice as likely to be diagnosed with diabetes as non-Hispanic whites, according to data compiled from a 2006 survey by the Office of Minority Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Although diagnosed with heart disease in similar numbers, African-Americans had a mortality rate 30 percent higher than their non-Hispanic white counterparts, according to 2007 data compiled by the same office.
Mark Hayward, director of the Population Research Center at UT, said these health disparities can be attributed in part to stresses resulting from a generally lower socioeconomic status originating in childhood.
“Blacks are more likely to compensate for stress and compensation factors in both increased problems like metabolic problems that are stress-related in nature,” he said. “Segregation and poverty and lack of access to health care—those conditions can get under the skin and lead to higher rates of especially hypertension, diabetes and stroke.”
Hayward said poverty can lead to obesity, which causes many other health problems.
“The options of healthy food in the local environment, in the local grocery store are less,” he said. “If you’re poor, sometimes the kinds of foods that people eat can be really satisfying in the short run but not very healthy in the long-run.”
Hayward said increasing African-American graduation rates from high school and college would reduce the health gap.
“It moves you into job opportunities and arranges social relationships that you can use literally to garner health advantage,” he said.
Hayward said he is worried about the impact state cuts to public and higher education will have on public health.
“People that are relatively unhealthy, they don’t perform well in the labor market and they have trouble sustaining,” he said. “The consequences of downturns in support for education can have long-term education.”
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| Austin Community College had two cars in the Juneteenth parade. Eighty separate groups with over 125 vehicles participated in the parade. |
“ACC has eight campuses throughout Austin. Two of them are in East Austin,” said college event coordinator Dahlia Anzaldua-Torres. “We just want to remind people about the importance of higher education and that they have a college right in their neighborhood.”
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| H-E-B continued its 15 year tradition of participating in the Juneteenth parade with a float and three trucks June 18. |
“H-E-B is a pretty, strong diverse company,” he said. “It’s what H-E-B.’s all about—helping people, supporting people, and H-E-B. has major support for a lot of things in Texas.”
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| About 150 people recited the Pledge of Allegiance at the historical community program June 18. |
Ryan Brown, a staff assistant and intern for Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, spoke at the event. He emphasized the importance of Juneteenth in American history.
“Juneteenth symbolizes not only the beginning of civil freedom, but also the start of social, economic and constitutional rights for African-Americans,” he said.
Nedra Montgomery, an Austin Energy senior auditor, said she was glad to see her son perform in Flava Dance Company at the historical community program.
“He needs to know about his heritage, his culture,” she said. “Mostly to help him be a good citizen, be a good American. Learn from the past; hopefully you can build a better future.”
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