Oakland has a unique relationship with Juneteenth. So does Mayor Barbara Lee.

OAKLAND The country was still six decades away from recognizing Juneteenth as a federal holiday when Barbara Lee first moved from El Paso Texas to Southern California where she had to petition the NAACP to help her become the first Black cheerleader of her high school San Fernando High School cheerleader Barbara Tutt now Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee in the yearbook photo When Lee first moved from El Paso Texas to Southern California she had to petition the NAACP to help her become the first Black cheerleader of her high school Courtesy of San Fernando High School It was a shock coming to California thinking that all was cool for Black people Lee recalled with a laugh during an interview this week There were the same problems of systemic and institutional racism But that shock turned to a big relief when Lee arrived as a Mills College aspirant in Oakland where now there was a locality that would offer me help for the rest of my life she disclosed The historic political legacy she began building here has culminated full circle in the -year-old East Bay progressive icon becoming the first Black woman to serve as the town s mayor a title that resonates even more as the city prepares to celebrate Juneteenth The day slaves in Texas learned they were free following the governor s decision to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation came years before former President Joe Biden declared it a nationwide holiday in The latter was another moment in history for which Lee then a longtime congresswoman was present Lee remembers early Juneteenths in her household as church celebrations followed by cookouts in the park you know how barbecues are in Texas she quipped At her swearing-in last month the mayor also recalled how June preceded her grandfather s birth in the state by about two years Amid a painful scant years of economic struggle and crime in Oakland the holiday has also at times been characterized by fresh trauma including from two separate incidents of gun violence during Juneteenth celebrations at Lake Merritt in and The shootout last year left wounded only for headlines to be dominated the next morning by FBI raids at the home of then-Mayor Sheng Thao a criminal review that shrouded Oakland in a political darkness leading Thao to be ousted by voters and eventually charged with felony corruption Juneteenth though just matters too much in Oakland to be brought down by negativity For chosen folks that are stuck in a doom loop media narrative maybe for them it s a deterrent explained Durell D C Coleman a longtime radio host planning Lakefest a Saturday concert festival at Lake Merritt But as far as I know from people who are Black and in Oakland we re outside on Juneteenth Lee elected in April must now lead a city that has inevitably held itself to high standards of racial justice and other progressive ideals but which has faced deep financial woes and crime problems in the years since the COVID- pandemic She also is at the helm of an Oakland changed by rising housing costs where the Black population fell from in to the present day per official Census records When you look at the wealth gaps the higher poverty rates those legacies and vestiges of being enslaved are manifested here in Oakland and everywhere in the United States Lee stated Lakefest the Saturday concert event is expected to bring thousands to Lake Merritt recalling past festivals in the s that highlighted Oakland s free-spirited multiculturalism before police crackdowns and anti-cruising laws put a stop to all the fun The infamous BBQ Becky episode in where a white woman called the police on a group of Black men tending an open grill on Lakeshore Avenue gave way to a movement for legacy Black Oaklanders to reclaim the lake even as specific neighborhoods around it continue to welcome younger wealthier transplants Juneteenth itself helps reflect how American labor economics are closely intertwined with race having marked the beginning of a Reconstruction era that shaped a newly post-slavery society There were systems that needed to be put in place with this mobilized population suddenly departing from the South and moving into industrialized spaces announced Miles Dotson who helped organize a sold-out Juneteenth event Thursday at the Oakland Museum of California It literally changed the picture of our country The third annual museum event called Hella Juneteenth will feature interactive exhibits about the country s racial history as well as an installation sponsored by the new Golden State Valkyries basketball franchise Lee will make the rounds Thursday at Juneteenth celebration in the Bay Area The new mayor has made a number of constituents appearances but so far lent only a supportive voice to major strategy decisions playing out at City Hall For now she is a walking testament to historical progress her decorated career having begun with volunteering for the Black Panther Party as a college novice in Oakland Lee s grandfather the one born two years after Juneteenth was also the first Black man to work as a letter carrier in Texas which she knows from seeing photos of him riding horseback The mayor s maiden name Tutt is a legacy Black lineage in El Paso where the Black population remains a nearly unchanged or in the time that Lee has been alive Barbara Lee's father Garvin Alexander Tutt served as a lieutenant colonel in a segregated army battalion during World War II and Korea Lee talks about the discrimination that her father faced when he tried to purchase a home in San Leandro Courtesy of Barbara Lee Barbara Lee's mother Mildred Parish Massey in a college age photo from the s Massey was one of the first kids integrated into the El Paso schools the locality where Lee grew up Courtesy of Barbara Lee And the family is deeply connected to the country s troubled racial history Lee s mother Mildred Parish Massey was one of the first kids integrated into the El Paso schools while her father Garvin A Tutt was a lieutenant colonel in a segregated Army battalion during World War II who once was rejected from buying a San Leandro home over his race Lee faces various questions in a shortened mayoral term one that Thao had expected to fill until after the electoral contest When it comes to Juneteenth though Lee is as much the mayor as she is one of the country s storied champions who unveiled a home in Oakland This is a day of peace she disclosed when people got to go on with their lives Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland Call or text him at - - or email him at shomik bayareanewsgroup com