PEABODY — A small collection of city officials gathered outside City Hall Thursday evening for a moving ceremony, in which the Juneteenth flag was raised and advocates passionately called for equality and justice.
The ceremony was organized by the North Shore Juneteenth Association and began with Mayor Edward A. Bettencourt Jr. reading a proclamation denoting June 22 as “Juneteenth Freedom Day” in the city of Peabody. Juneteenth, enacted as a federal holiday by President Joe Biden in 2021, commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved people were proclaimed free in Galveston, TX.
Bettencourt gave way to Lynn City Councilor-at-Large Nicole McClain, the president and founder of the association. McClain spoke about how the phrase “freed slaves” is oxymoronic, and the ways in which Black Americans still have to grapple with systemic oppression.
“Juneteenth is a time to take a look at the complex experiences that we as a people have lived through,” she said. “The realization that we have lived and continue to thrive. It is imperative for us and the world to acknowledge who we are. Denied education, denied housing, denied life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Yet, here we are, still becoming scientists, politicians, doctors, and graduating from various educational institutions.”
McClain said the organization she founded seeks to educate, not to scold, and spoke of the ways in which Black culture — clothing, music, and language — has taken root with the masses. That, she said, shows the power of the community.
She then introduced the Rev. Dr. Andre Bennett, a former resident of the city who works as a youth pastor. Bennett delivered passionate remarks detailing the ways in which Black people continue to face oppression and equality.
Bennett, a Jamaican immigrant, described difficult home-buying processes in Peabody and having numerous offers above asking price turned down, only for those properties to be sold for lower than the amounts he offered. At times, he made direct eye contact with Bettencourt as he described feeling as though his skin color led directly to the challenges he faced in buying a home in the city.
He also recounted the story of two young men of different races who graduated with identical degrees but received varying salary offers when seeking a sales job, despite having the same level of experience.
All of that, Bennett said, shows the inequitable treatment Black residents face to this day — more than a century after the first Juneteenth.
“We are not fighting for better anything,” he said. “We’re not looking for better healthcare. We’re not looking for better schooling. We’re not looking for better housing. We’re not looking for better policing. We’re looking for equal. That’s what we’re looking for, equal, not better.”
Michelle LaPoetica Richardson, who McClain described as the association’s “poet and spoken-word guru,” followed Bennett. A high-school classmate of Bettencourt’s, Richardson encouraged several of those in the crowd — including City Councilors Stephanie Peach and Thomas Rossignoll — to take their shoes off and join her on the grass as she spoke.
Richardson said she was able to find love and acceptance in the city in her youth, supported by coaches and counselors in the city’s public schools.
“Love is the only way that we’re going to get out of it,” she said. “We don’t need more hashtags, we don’t need more flag raisings.”
“Let’s learn from the pain that we’ve suffered in our own individual lives,” Richardson encouraged the crowd. “You don’t have to be Black to know what pain feels like. You don’t have to be Black to know what humiliation feels like. You don’t have to be Black to know what it feels like to want to do something and not be allowed just because of who you are.”
Once Richardson wrapped up her remarks, Janey David performed the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” as members of the Veterans Memorial High School JROTC raised the Juneteenth flag.
As the ceremony included, a clearly moved Bettencourt said simply, “I’m very proud to have the Juneteenth flag hanging in the city of Peabody.”
