ODESSA, Texas — Juneteenth is a day to celebrate our freedom, our resilience and our progress.
The Black Cultural Council of Odessa (BCCO) hosted their annual Juneteenth Kickoff on Wednesday for the whole community to come out and celebrate together.
"It was nice," Dashira Jeffery, a parent of a Juneteenth participant. "We have the young adults out here honoring for Juneteenth. My daughter did the Pledge of Allegiance, and it's nice to see the youth out doing something good. They could be anywhere else. There's a lot going on. So it was nice seeing them, you know, lead and give us an an insight on Juneteenth."
Jeffery is an Odessa native who has been attending the event since she was a little girl. She plans to continue the tradition with her daughter spreading the knowledge.
"A while ago, a lot of people really didn't know what Juneteenth meant," Jeffery said. "Now I know I hear a lot of different people understanding the meaning more."
Michael Smith is a pastor in Big Spring who traveled to Odessa to be part of the BCCO's jam packed line up of events. He believes there is a powerful message to be shared, to the entire community and young people especially.
"Events like this remind us that we have to keep challenging our young people to continue to strive for excellence and remember the shoulders upon which they stand and the legacy and the tenacity that our ancestors displayed in conditions that were less than favorable than we’re facing today," Smith said.
Marking their 25 years of service, the BCCO's theme is "honoring our past, shaping our future."
On Wednesday, the youth took center stage and the seniors watched with joyous smiles because those kids are the future, and the story of greatness is far from over.
"We have to remember that that freedom is not free," Smith said. "We have to strive for it, fight for it, we have to participate in this process so that so that we can continue to hold on to our freedoms."
African American history is American History, to continue embracing the legacy and celebrating the freedom.