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By Jorge Casuso
June 18 -- Buffalo soldiers, cowgirls, African dancers
and kid pilots were all part of an eclectic celebration of
African-American culture at Santa Monica’s Virginia
Avenue Park Saturday.
The 15th Annual Juneteenth Celebration -- which marked the
day 142 years ago when slaves on Galveston Island, Texas learned
they were free -- was a time to showcase the cultural richness
at the heart of African American culture.
Held on a warm sunny day, the festival commemorated Dr. George
Washington Carver, the botanical researcher who taught former
slaves farming techniques and discovered hundreds of uses
for peanuts, soybeans, pecans and sweet potatoes.
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| Renee Ssensalo sells
crafts from her import business Kamu-Kamu in Carson. (Photos
by Jorge Casuso) |
The celebration was a time to remember African-American ancestors
who fought for freedom and to encourage a future generation
exemplified by the pre-teen Aviation Angels who performed
helicopter maneuvers in the clear sky.
“It’s important not just to enjoy the beautiful
sun,” said City Manager Lamont Ewell, but to appreciate
what Civil Rights leaders “gave to give us our freedom.
Let’s think of our future today.”
“The future of the world is in our hands,” said
Abdul-Salaam Muhammad, a curator of the Washington-Carver
Museum of California. “We don’t have to wait for
some kid or some savior. We have to do it now.”
Centered on the collection of Frank D. Godden -- a 96-year-old
former student of Carver -- the museum exhibit showcased the
work of Los Angeles oil painter Alice T. Gafford, photographs,
drawings, memorabilia and books from the “truth-brary,”
as opposed to library.
How many uses of the peanut did George Washington Carver
discover?” Muhammad asked the visitors.
A framed list that was part of the exhibit ennumerated 302
products, including hand lotion, paint, candy, buttermilk,
mock chicken, iron tonic, pickle, axle grease and linoleum.
Across the room, an exhibit paid tribute to the Black Seminoles
and Buffalo Soldiers who fought alongside the Union army in
the Civil War and took up arms for the U.S. through World
War II.
Phil Fixico is a living testament to the nation’s rich
African American heritage. Seven years ago, the 60-year-old
Los Angeles native was searching for his ancestry on the internet
when he learned he was a direct descendent of the Seminole
Indians on his father’s side.
“It changed my life,” said Fixico, who grew up
in the housing projects in Watts as “a little gang guy”
who was never sure who his real father was.
“It was like God was working to carve out a hole in
my heart so that I could fill it with this,” he said.
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| (From left) Troopers
Lennister Williams and Douglas Rosales with Phil Fixico. |
Tiza Wynn, who danced a Brazilian Samba onstage, was glad
to find a Juneteenth festival in Southern California.
“I grew up going to Juneteenth festivals all the time,”
said Wynn, who moved to Burbank from Northern California.
“I’m just excited that one is happening here in
Southern California.
LaVerne Ross, who organizes the festival every year, said
the event is a time to focus on positive achievements, pointing
to the youngsters who flew the helicopters above the festival
grounds.
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| Cheif
Pilot Robin Petgrave, founder of Aviation Angels, with
12-year-old pilots James Knox and Kendalyn Mack. |
“So often we hear about (African-American) men, and
it’s not about soaring into the air, about future doctors
and lawyers,” said Ross, CEO and president of the Juneteenth
Celebration Committee. “These are the kind of men we
want to lift up.”
Then Ross looked out at the crowd from the stage.
“Do you see,” she said. “African Americans
live in Santa Monica.”
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