Denton Juneteenth to parade participants: If you oppose DEI, skip our event
Denton Juneteenth has a message for those considering joining the annual parade: If you don’t support diversity, equity and inclusion, don’t join us on June 17.
Juneteenth University, a Denton-based organization that plays a key role in the local observance of the holiday commemorating the day slavery was legally ended in Texas, posted a message on its website this week:
“Given the current political environment of our state and nation, all individuals, associations, businesses, religious organizations, government agents and schools are reminded that the fundamental purpose of Juneteenth is to celebrate the advancement of human equity,” the message reads.
“Appearance in the Denton Juneteenth Parade will be equivalent to an affirmation of that doctrine and an endorsement of the ongoing pursuit of equity and inclusion. Participation by any entity that has acted against inclusion or human equality in any manner would be considered an unappreciated mockery of the holiday and celebration. Therein, participation in the Denton Juneteenth Parade by such entities is not desired.”
The “political environment” referenced in the message is the 88th session of the Texas Legislature, which ended Monday in an immediate call for a special session. During the regular session, though, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 17, which would ban diversity, equity and inclusion offices, programs and trainings at publicly funded Texas universities. The bill has yet to be signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, but if signed would ban those offices in the next six months.
Donald Norman-Cox, the founder of Juneteenth University and a longtime volunteer for the local Juneteenth celebration, said the same message has been sent to previous parade participants.
“What it comes down to is that this is the only card that we have to play, and so we are playing it,” said Norman-Cox, who is an alumnus of the University of Texas and who remembers the multicultural center at the university in the 1970s being the forerunner to its present-day Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Norman-Cox said he thinks the Legislature’s decision to abolish DEI offices is symbolic.
“This isn’t restricted to colleges,” he said “It is laid bare by the emphasis on colleges, but to consider them as a problem only for the colleges is ridiculous. Every entity that has anything to do with promoting diversity and inclusion and equity should consider this a front, and do what they need to do to oppose it.”
Norman-Cox was disappointed when he learned that Denton state representatives favored the abolition of DEI offices. State Sen. Drew Springer, R-Muenster, whose District 30 includes part of Denton County, voted in favor of the SB 17. Rep. Lynn Stucky, R-Denton, who represents District 64 in the Texas House, also voted in favor of the legislation. Stucky participated in the Denton Juneteenth Parade last year.
It’s not the most forceful of flexes to ask detractors to skip the Juneteenth celebration, Norman-Cox said. But it’s something.
“The only thing that we can do to oppose it is to let people know that if they are against human equity, then they need to stay home,” he said.
“The purpose of this is not an opportunity for people to come in and stand and grin and be so in support of Black people, and then take pictures and go home and do something completely different.”
Norman-Cox said there would be no DEI offices or initiatives without Juneteenth, which commemorates June 19, 1866, when Gen. Gordon Granger sailed into Galveston with U.S. Army troops to compel Texas Confederates to free their slaves.
“Juneteenth was the beginning of equity,” Norman-Cox said. “It didn’t create equity at all. It just changed the identity from an enslaved person to freedman. Everything else remained the same. It was the beginning of the quest for equity. And so the current offices, personnel, et cetera, that are there ... they wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for Juneteenth to begin with. They wouldn’t exist.”
Denton’s Juneteenth celebration is scheduled for June 16-17 at Fred Moore Park. Local organizations can still register for the Juneteenth parade online.
LUCINDA BREEDING-GONZALES can be reached at 940-566-6877 and via Twitter at @LBreedingDRC.