June 21, 2022

Tareka Payne speaking a Juneteennth at Fort Lewis College on Monday, June 20. KSUT Tribal Radio | Sarah Flower

Food brings people together for Juneteenth celebrations in Durango

Durangoans and Fort Lewis College participate in Juneteenth celebrations with food, drinks and movies. KSUT’s Sarah Flower has more.

By Sarah Flower

with Tareka Payne, assistant director of Diversity Collaborative at Fort Lewis College

Transcript

Sarah Flower:

Rainy weather may have changed locations for this year's Juneteenth celebrations in Durango, but didn't get in the way of those wanting to participate. On Sunday, nearly 50 people attended the event at 11th Street Station hosted by Southwest movement for black lives, while Fort Lewis College held their festivities on Monday by showing an episode of High On The Hog. How African American cuisine transformed America accompanied with cowboy stew and red velvet cupcakes to Tareka Payne is the assistant director of Diversity Collaborative at the college. For her. This celebration is for everyone.

Tareka Payne:

Honestly, Juneteenth isn't just for African Americans or black Americans, it's for the community because Black history is American history. And it's the foundation for what we have built a lot of things we consider cultural norms, Southern culture, Eastern culture. It all stems from this time period.

Sarah Flower:

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States, ending the Emancipation Proclamation and the creation of the 13th amendment. On June 19 1865, enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, were the last to be notified of their freedoms. And Juneteenth is honoring everyone finally, knowing and being together for pain, gathering and cooking is one of the ways to carry on that tradition.

Tareka Payne:

Food brings people together in ways you always forget, like, when you're eating, you start laughing and you're like, Well, my family does this and my family does that. And before that, you know, you have a connection. So food has always been a way of telling stories and getting people together to commune while also passing information along.