Local race relations forum draws positive comments

Jun 21, 2021

Emmanuel United Church of Christ held the first Community Conversation. The conversation was on the history and significance of Juneteenth.

By Ingrid Utech, Correspondent, Highlands News Sun

Speaking recently at Emmanuel United Church of Christ, Highlands County multimedia specialist and Black community leader Selvin Walker said that he longs for the day when society is no longer divided by race. “When individuals perceive the world like a blended stew rather than a tossed salad, that will be the time of Jubilee,” Walker told the audience.

Walker spoke at the first of a series of community conversations the church is sponsoring on controversial social issues. “We’re hoping the conversations will bring the diverse members of the Highlands County community closer together,” said Reverend George Miller. Miller selected race relations as the topic of the first conversation and invited Walker to speak on the history and significance of Juneteenth, which was celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time this year. Juneteenth occurred on June 19, 1865. That’s when 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston, TX, and announced that more...