Starting at 11:00 a.m. the site was open to all comers and music played from speakers near the courthouse entrance. At a bit before noon, host Lisa Simpson began the program by leading the singing of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” then introduced John Nolen who embarked on a resolute a capella performance of “When Jesus Comes.”
Then Sylvia Brown was introduced. The president of the Hempstead County chapter of the NAACP called out “Harambe” several times as she approached the courthouse steps, echoed by several in the audience.
“Harambe is greeting meaning all pull together in Swahili, and is the official motto of Kenya in West Africa,” Brown said. “Our vision at NAACP is an inclusive community rooted in liberation, where all persons can exercise their civil and human rights without discrimination.”
She described the purpose of Juneteenth and of NAACP. “The NAACP was founded in 1909 just 44 years after the last persons in physical chattel slavery were emancipated in Galveston, Texas. The people founding NAACP in 1909 were black, were white, men, women, Christians and Jewish persons. For over a century, your multicultural, interdenominational NAACP has always been about the fight and the struggle for equality for all persons, has always been about protecting the safety and security of people who are physically harmed, mentally harmed or hurt, and emotionally harmed or hurt,” Brown said.
“Let us remember that this freedom journey is hard work and heart work, hard work and heart work. Organizing and mobilization are action words that can and do leave us physically tired, mentally drained and emotionally vulnerable,” Brown said. “We have examples from our ancestors and scholars in the movement who broke bread together and strategized, planned and acted together. If they didn't have a physical civic buddy, they had a spiritual civic buddy present. Let us remember that this freedom journey, the personal and cultural freedom journey, is again hard work and heart work. You've heard R and R, rest and relief. Please know they are mandatory. Psalms 23, lead us beside the still waters is a call for peace, quiet and calm. We will not march back to what was but move to what will be together,” she said.
After Brown’s speech came a praise dance by Jasmine Duvall whose performance name is Surrendered Mime. She danced to the song “Hold On (Change is Comin’) by Sounds of Blackness.
Then Lindsey Wrinkle, an advanced peer support specialist. working at Southwest Arkansas Counseling and Mental Health, shared her story of overcoming a 17-year addiction with a combination of family support and faith. Acknowledging that her addiction was driven by a prior mental health problem, she provided statistical information about reasons those with mental health problems may be unlikely to seek care.
“A global study of 90,000 people found that the stigma of mental illness is one of the top reasons people don't seek care. One of the reasons for reluctance for people to speak about their mental health is the fear of burden to others. Twenty-six percent of people feel like they're going to be a burden. Fear of being judged or labeled is 21 percent. Then feeling like no one will truly understand is another 21 percent and just difficulty sharing their feelings, shame, lack of understanding or compassion, fear of being judged. Forty-eight percent were worried about their workplace people,” Wrinkle said.
One reason drug rehab was difficult for her to accept despite having been jailed three times for offenses related to her addiction, Wrinkle said, was that she found a lack of credibility in drug counselors who told her they understood her experiences. Peer counselors like her can be effective in reaching other addicts who might otherwise reject treatment.
“I work with people with mental illness and/or substance abuse, I've had them both. If you know anybody that's needing treatment, reach out. We can help them,” she said in closing.
At this point John Nolen returned, singing “Let Your Light Shine” and then Surrendered Mime performed another praise dance to Kirk Franklin’s “Something About the Name of Jesus.”
After the program, the bouncy castles, food vendors and tables remained for several hours.
