OKLAHOMA CITY — Simmering community tensions were once again revealed when a clerical error was perceived as a symbolic attempt to downplay the significance of the Juneteenth annual holiday in Oklahoma County.
Tuesday afternoon, several Black leaders in Oklahoma City’s Eastside were outraged that Juneteenth was left off the list of county holidays for the coming year to be voted on Wednesday morning.
It had been on the county’s list of holidays last year.
And Board of County Commissioners Chair, District 3 Commissioner Myles Davidson had supported that inclusion.
But since Davidson is the chair and in charge of the agenda, the suspicion about the omission landed on him.
By the close of business Tuesday, Jail Trust member Pastor Derrick Scobey had posted a call to protest at the Wednesday meeting, and District 1 Commissioner Jason Lowe had expressed his outrage at the omission in a press release.
And beloved community poet/rapper/performer Jabee had expressed his objections to the omission. He has established a Juneteenth celebration each year on the Eastside.
Resolved
By late evening Tuesday, Pastor Scobey posted a notice that Commissioner Myles Davidson, the chair of the board, and he had talked on the phone and that it would be resolved at the meeting on Wednesday.
He asked that people NOT protest as he had called for originally.
The functional issue was then corrected by one motion and a vote at the Board of County Commissioners meeting Wednesday morning.
Board Chair Myles Davidson told Free Press Wednesday after the meeting that it was a clerical error that caused the omission and that he had supported the inclusion of Juneteenth on last year’s holiday calendar.
He said that he “didn’t notice it wasn’t on the proposed calendar for this year,” and made plans to include it once it was brought to his attention.
The error began by copying the calendar of holidays from the Oklahoma Secretary of State’s website, Davidson said, which does not include Juneteenth because the state does not recognize the holiday.
Free Press asked Commissioner Lowe after the Wednesday meeting if the issue was resolved to his satisfaction, and he quickly answered that it had.
Deeper tensions
The incident midweek illustrated how easily tensions rise among some community members, especially Black members, toward local government officials.
Those tensions rise from accumulated memories of intentional omissions, slights, hostility, and violence throughout state and national history.
Background
Juneteenth on June 19 each year has been an unofficial celebration among Black people first in Texas and Oklahoma, and now has spread nationwide.
The holiday commemorates June 19, 1865, the day when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, were informed of their freedom—more than two years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was issued.
The federal holiday for Juneteenth was established in 2021 under the Biden Administration.
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
