African Americans Celebrate Juneteenth

She may have been speaking in Yoruba, but it didn’t take long for the hundreds of African Americans gathered Saturday in Oxnard for Juneteenth celebrations to figure out what she was saying.

“Sha ala fia ni,” Ventura College history instructor Ola Washington shouted in the Nigerian language.

Translation: “What’s happening?”

After Washington coached the audience on the response, “adube,” or “By the help of God, all is well,” several took up her cue and replied in Yoruba.

It was a fitting reminder of heritage as hundreds of Ventura County residents flocked to the Oxnard Community Center to listen to Washington and others commemorate Juneteenth.

The observance marks the day, June 19, that the last Texas slaves learned they were free, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1862 by Abraham Lincoln.

For some, the holiday shares the same historical significance as the Fourth of July.

Quoting abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Washington told the audience: “Juneteenth should be more important to black people than the Fourth of July, because when the Declaration of Independence was created, the words did not apply to black people.”

Listening to Washington read excerpts from stories about the lives of slaves, Port Hueneme resident Oni Adams and her friends said commemorating Juneteenth is also a way for some of Ventura County’s 15,600 blacks to pay tribute to the past.

“I am here to celebrate and remember and pay honor to our ancestors,” she said. “And I’m going to sit here until I can’t sit here no more.”

But the day was also about having fun.

Visitors chowed down on barbecue chicken and ribs, biscuits and gravy, and baked beans. Entertainment ranged from contemporary gospel to jazz performed by the Oxnard High School Jazz Band.

Dressed in a dashiki--a colorful, flowing robe sent from a friend in Nigeria--Oxnard resident Doretha Enobakhare said she came simply to enjoy the day.

“I’m having a great time,” she said. “Listening to music, eating and buying lots of items.”

Black-owned businesses hawked everything from long-distance telephone service to cloth from Africa to fancy dress hats.

Longtime Ventura County residents recalled Juneteenth celebrations from decades past, when only a few families gathered with picnic baskets at a local park.

Saturday’s celebration was the sixth organized by the Tri-Counties African American Chamber of Commerce, a group effort that meant individual families could relax and enjoy the festivities.

“This way, it lightens the load,” said Oxnard resident Linda Washington, who for the first time this year did not show up with a huge batch of barbecue to share. “And it gives everyone in the community the chance to meet and see each other.”