This week on Chronversations, we head to the 5th Annual Juneteenth Freedom Market at the Salt Shed. What does Juneteenth mean to Chicagoans today? From artists and vendors to students and families, Chicagoans are reflecting on freedom, resilience, and why joy itself can be a form of resistance.
TRANSCRIPT
0:07: Welcome back to Chronicle Conversations.
0:10: I’m your host, Stella Huang.
0:14: It’s Tuesday, June 17.
0:16: I’m at the 5th annual Juneteenth Freedom Market in Chicago, where a historic reminder is being turned into joy, art and movement.
0:25: I’m here to find out what that means to the people who made it happen.
0:30: It’s a great celebration.
0:32: I love to support Black businesses.
0:35: That’s Reyna Smith, an elementary school counselor from Chicago, talking about Juneteenth.
0:40: Obviously liberation, but also joy, and using joy as our resistance.
0:45: Franki Levenson,
0:47: A client manager from Chicago and the burbs shared her perspectives on this event as a Caucasian.
0:52: It’s important to foster the community.
0:54: For me, it’s acknowledging. Acknowledging the struggle, celebrating them, their culture, everything that they’ve brought to America, celebrating immigrants.
1:04: And she had a favorite moment.
1:14: I really enjoyed the Double Dutch.
1:16: That was so cool.
1:26: She’s not the only one.
1:28: Tina Lyons, a Chicago business owner visiting from Memphis, said the jump rope brought back something deeper, something personal.
1:37: We have a long history with jump rope.
1:38: I remember as a child when my neighborhood jumping rope on the front porch, with all of my friends, even the boys with jump ropes, so it’s a long history in the African American community and to have that display for the world to see of all cultures, I’m so proud of our heritage.
1:55: I’m proud of my heritage.
1:56: I’m proud of where I come from.
1:58: It took me back a little bit, so to my childhood, my youth.
2:00: I love that.
2:02: For Saige Porter, a dual master’s student in public health and social work, Juneteenth didn’t fully resonate with her until recently.
2:11: It hasn’t meant a lot to me until recently because I think the history has been very overshadowed and so a lot of us are just now learning about the history of it and celebrating it.
2:22: It’s becoming a really big thing.
2:23: So for me, it means connecting with my roots and my city really because this is like where I want to be the rest of my life and so to know that it’s so celebrated here makes me feel like so much better about building roots here, I guess.
2:37: For people like Carla Tenorio, a security supervisor from Buffalo Grove, the sense of celebration begins the moment they arrive.
2:45: Today, the vibe immediately.
2:48: I immediately like walked in and I felt safe.
2:51: Think like phoenix rising from the ashes.
2:54: Like that’s what Juneteenth is all about.
2:56: For many vendors, the celebration is also about being seen.
3:01: Lorenzo Beach, a fashion creative director from Wichita, Kansas, says visibility is everything, but he hopes people support Black-owned businesses for the right reasons.
3:12: Don’t support Black-owned businesses solely because they’re Black.
3:15: I don’t like that, you know, I want people to support my business because they like what they see, and I just happen to be Black as well.
3:22: So support looks like a share, a like, a follow, an email subscription, all those things, tangible support.
3:31: And when it comes to support, Tanya Scruggsford, an artist and designer from Chicago, says it’s not just about celebrating culture, it’s about building community.
3:42: Sustaining families and keeping dollars circulating where they matter most.
3:46: This is how we support our family.
3:48: If no one supports us, then we’re not able to support our families.
3:51: All of our dollars goes back into the community that we serve, and I think that’s really important.
3:56: Small businesses are very vital to this country.
3:59: And we’re kind of like the backbones.
4:02: I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived here, but I found a crowd of people dancing, shopping and celebrating freedom in their own unique ways. Sharing their stories of resilience, joy and pride.
4:15: This is Juneteenth, Chicago style.
4:19: Make sure to stay up to date with campus and metro news at columbiachronicle.com.
4:24: And sign up for our newsletter at columbiachronicle.com/newsletter.
4:30: I’m Stella Huang.
4:31: Thanks for listening.
Copy edited by Vanessa Orozco
