Photo: Dr. Kent Key, MPH, Ph.D.
Dr. Kent Key, MPH, PhD, may have educated many on the lawn of the Genesee County Courthouse on June 19-a day known as Juneteenth. But Kent expressed to the crowd what he felt should be the end goal of citizens in a country filled with racial prejudice and discrimination. Other speakers articulated similar ambitions geared toward systemic change initiated by focused attitude and activity.
Juneteenth is a celebration of African American’s emancipation in the United States. It was June 19, 1865 that Union Army General Gordon Granger read federal orders in Galveston, Texas that all previously enslaved people in Texas were free.
“This was significant because the Emancipation Proclamation had already been declared 2 ½ years earlier,” said Key, founder of the Community Engagement Studio of Flint.
“So for 2 ½ years slaves in Galveston, Texas were still working on plantations and did not know they were free,” Key added, pointing out this was due in part to the fact it was illegal for slaves to read.
Key said posting the Emancipation Proclamation did not convey the communication to the slaves that they were free.
He asked the attendees to the event to repeat the phrase ‘none of us are free until we are all free’ several time, emphasizing its importance.
Key said racism is embedded in the original U.S. Constitution and said now racism has a different face: systemic racism.
“Racism is at the core of racial inequities and disparities, no matter what you look at. You can look at education, housing, transportation, employment, health environment-all of these things are impacted-(as well as) the legal system and, of course the law enforcement system.”
Key said that although the physical oppression of African Americans was lifted through the emancipation, Black people are still oppressed.
“To just change the words of the Constitution, but not dismantle the systems that that Constitution put in place still equals racism.”
Key said the system in America does what it’s designed to do: give benefit and privilege to some at the expense of others.
“We don’t need more time. We’ve had 400 years of slavery, of Jim Crow, of bigotry, of systemic racism-look at the Flint Water Crisis-of environmental racism. We don’t have any more time to give.”
Key said if America is going to deal with racism we must first acknowledge it, name it, accept that it happened and correct it. He called Juneteenth a “symbol of hope” that Americans may one day overcome the institution of racism.
“So, Juneteenth-that’s a partial victory. It’s not total victory.”
For total victory, the current racist system needs to be dismantled and destroyed by all of us collectively, as a people, to reconstruct one that is equitable, fair and just for all, according to Key.
Claudia Perkins-Milton is a former shop committeeperson for the Delphi plant and a former organizer for the UAW. She is also running for 34th district state representative.
“We need to register and exercise our rights to vote so we can change some of these laws that are not good for us or our community,” Perkins-Milton said.
She talked about the ways she is fighting to make situations more equitable in regards to the Flint Water Crisis, as a member of the Democracy Defense League, as well the ways she is fighting for more equality within the school systems.
“Investigate. Know who you’re supporting, and do the right thing,” Perkins-Milton said.
Joe Massey, the first African American elected to the Grand Blanc Township Board and an engineer who has worked for NASA, referred to himself as a “street lawyer.” He remembers a Robert Kennedy, who was running for president, saying: “Some men see things as they are and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask why not.”
“That’s the way I believe in leadership as a street lawyer,” Massey said.
Massey said his focus is on what he can do to improve the system and not on the failings of others.
He once worked as an engineer at a place with 5,000 employees in which he was the only Black engineer on the premises.
“I knew there was racism against me, but I overcame all of it through hard work” Massey said. “I didn’t let it affect me. How I dealt with racism was like Martin Luther King said: I dealt with love.”
Massey worked with one individual who he said reminded him daily he was the president of the Klu Klux Klan.
“He told me after about two years of working with him, ‘Joe Massey, of all the Black people I’ve known, I don’t know why I like you so much.’”
Massey said in order to get rid of racism; the current system had to be replaced with love.
Antonio Sweeney shared his perspective on what should be done to end racism, as a younger person. Sweeney said he is proud of who he is and proud to be part of a generation that will move the world forward.
“As a nation, we all have to fight the good fight,” Sweeney said. “So, do something. Be a part of something. Our actions speak louder than our words.”
Genesee County Clerk and Register of Deed John Gleason coordinated the speakers for the event.
“Racism does not conclude nor is it intercepted by a single step,” he said.
