Oklahoma NAACP Asks For Moment Of Silence At Tulsa Juneteenth Jubilee

The annual Juneteenth Jubilee celebration will take place in downtown Tulsa this weekend.The free festivities begin at 5 p.m. and will go all night Friday and Saturday at Guthrie Green. 

Friday, June 19th 2015, 3:12 pm

By: News On 6

Oklahoma NAACP Asks For Moment Of Silence At Tulsa Juneteenth Jubilee

The Oklahoma NAACP announced Friday it is calling for support of a statewide silent prayer service on Saturday during the Juneteenth celebrations around the state and also a moment of silent prayer during Sunday church services across the state.

The moments of prayer are to show support for the Charleston murder victims, their families, the Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina and their community. The Emanuel AME Church is one of oldest and most historically significant churches in the South.

A gunman opened fire on Sunday, killing nine people who were there to worship. According to CBS News, the alleged shooter's family and friends said he had deep-rooted hate for blacks in America.

The annual Juneteenth Jubilee celebration will take place in downtown Tulsa this weekend. Juneteenth is also known as "Freedom" or "Emancipation Day." It celebrates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas, which happened two years after slavery ended.

The free festivities begin at 5 p.m. both Friday and Saturday and will go all night at Guthrie Green. About 20 music acts will take the stage, including some of the best soul and R&B bands in Tulsa. Food trucks and vendors also will be present.

Tulsa's history carries a big connection to racial tensions in America. Tulsa's flourishing "Black Wall Street" was destroyed in the 1921 Race Riots and dozens were killed.

The Juneteenth festivities are important to the Tulsa community because it signifies moving forward while simultaneously remembering the past -- its pain and its triumphs.

"No matter what has been taken, what has transpired down through the years after that happened, we will never forget the greatness that Black Wall Street was," Ifaronke Fagbenro said at a prior Juneteenth celebration.