Three days before Tuesday’s miraculous Rising of the Chamber, remembrance of another rising took place in Lompoc.
Juneteenth recalls the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, received word of their emancipation, word that had been delayed by the Civil War.
Juneteenth arrived in Lompoc five years ago sponsored by Santa Maria-Lompoc NAACP and Lompoc’s C4 Collective after several years in more informal settings.
Dignitaries included Congressmember Salud Carbajal, Supervisor Joan Hartmann, Lompoc Mayor Jim Mosby and councilmembers Jeremy Ball and Steve Bridge, and keynote speaker Victor Jordan, publisher of the Lompoc Vision.
One of the most moving parts of the celebration was the youth performance of “Freedom”, a poem and song performed by Sylvia Seqovia, Serenity Salim, and Shyanne Garza, orchestrated and written by Nicola Howell.
Performers included Gloria Mantooth, Gloria Montague, The Mozaic Band, Darrel Tullis, Pam Beebe, Cozetta Blow, Cynthia Butler, and Joann and Lillian Street.
“Seeing our community come together, across generations and backgrounds, to honor the past and build the future, filled me with hope,” said C4 Collective founder Yasmin Dawson.
