The sounds of drumming and dancing reverberated Wednesday through Buckley Park where about 200 people gathered to celebrate Durango’s fourth annual Juneteenth festival.
Juneteenth, known by some as they country’s “second” or “true” independence day, celebrates the anniversary of June 19, 1865, when a Union general announced the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas, informing the last enslaved people in the former Confederacy that they were free.
Etienne Tolno, a Guinean musician who specializes in percussion, set the mood for most of the two-hour festival with his lively, upbeat music. He had people of all colors up and dancing to the traditional West African rhythms.
Tolno said he believes music is a force that can bring all people together and help them to see past their differences.
“If you hear music, you do this,” Tolno said, before throwing up his hands and dancing. “If you look into my eyes, what do you see? You see yourself! I look into your eyes, I see myself. Now we are together, we are the same.”
The festival also featured free, authentic African cuisine courtesy of Chef Arnold Safari Ngumbo and booths from different organizations around town whose donations helped sponsor the event.
The Juneteenth festival, like the past three years, was organized by Tracy Jones, director of the Southwest Movement for Black Lives. Jones delivered a speech at the festival and began with emphasizing the expansive meaning of the phrase “Black Lives Matter” by highlighting ongoing African conflicts.
“We had everyone marching in 2020 for Black Lives. Sudan and Congo are black lives. We care about Sudan, we care about Congo, we care about African Americans,” Jones said. “Research Sudan and Congo, it’s not a civil war. That’s what a lot of people think. They’re exploiting the resources, pushed by the West.”
Jones also centered Durango in her speech, and the ongoing struggle to build a thriving Black community here.
“Durango is a majority white community, and it’s hard for people of color to come here and be a part of this community,” Jones said. “You can see that by looking around.”
Sally Tompkins and Diane Wislon, two women who drove from Cortez to Durango for their first Juneteenth festival, described why they felt compelled to make the almost hour-long drive.
“Because Cortez wouldn’t celebrate Juneteenth,” Tompkins said. “If you were doing this over there you’d probably have a lot of people walking around your perimeter packing guns.”
Thompkins and Wilson, who both are old enough to remember the Civil Rights movement, said they we’re disappointed by the lack of progress in Southwest Colorado outside of a few places like Durango over the course of their lifetimes.
Some Black Lives Matters rallies in Durango during the summer of 2020 featured attempted disruptions by armed counter-protesters. Since then however, the Black Lives Matter movement in Durango has been able to operate in peace.
Offering his perspective, DeMitt Rutledge, a Black man whose work for Delta Airlines took him all over the country, spoke to his experience in Durango.
“Honestly I haven’t felt racism or intolerant behavior,” Rutledge said. “Although I haven’t, my 11 and 9 year olds have in school.”
That sentiment was echoed by Sofia Gutierrez and Cooper Hill, two Durango High School student members of the Black Student Alliance, who said they had heard multiple classmates using slurs without facing punishment, as well as excluding students of color.
While some Black voices expressed gratitude for Durango’s progressive culture, all emphasized the need to continue fighting for true equality. Especially the need to pass that progress down to the next generation to ensure Durango has a vibrant Black community for years to come.
nmetcalf@durangoherald.com
