Hundreds gathered in downtown Rochester on Saturday to celebrate Juneteenth.
The national holiday on Thursday marks the end of slavery in the United States.
Rochester’s Juneteenth Festival started with a parade through the city, ending in Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Park. Activities there commemorated the past, but also looked ahead to the future, especially for African Americans and their decades of struggle.
Chazmen Geames works with an initiative put on by the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, aimed at mentoring young men who are in grades 9 through 12.
Geames said that kind of support is critical for those young people.
“Super important. Like I say, we want to be bridge builders,” Geames said. “We have to lead the way for the future leaders. So we got to prepare the future of tomorrow, today. If not, then we don't know the direction that the world is going to go into.”
Toi Walker-Smith, of the Psi Omega Zeta sorority does see forward movement on some of the challenges faced by Black people.
“We are making progress today,” said Walker-Smith.
“If you look around and see all these beautiful organizations out here, all these beautiful people out here, I would say today, yes, we're making a difference. We're making a change.”
That optimism was reflected in the theme for this year’s Rochester Juneteenth Festival, which is “maintaining infinite hope.”
Nikia Washington, coordinator for the local festival, said that it’s important to “remember the past, remember our ancestors,” who “built this road out for us.”
But she said it is also a time to look ahead.
“We also want to start to imagine and create our future and with our own narrative, not with someone else's perspective or how they think it should be for us as Black individuals in America,” Washington said.
“We want to rewrite our story for the future, but with our own narrative.”
Rochester's Juneteenth Festival also included music, dance, food, information about local organizations, and a performance from step dancers from the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
