Medford Celebrates Juneteenth at City Hall
City officials, clergy and a poet come together to celebrate and reflect on the meaning of Juneteenth
By Tavishi Chattopadhyay
To the sound of a djembe, residents and government officials joined together on Thursday in Medford’s City Hall to celebrate Juneteenth and raise the holiday's flag.
Around 60 attendees gathered in the City Council room while Nicholas Karinge, the disability specialist of the Commission for Persons with Disabilities, played a djembe. This is the fifth year that Juneteenth has been celebrated in Medford.
The event included speakers, poetry, food from Work Hard Eat Good, music from the Willie J. Laws Band, and the raising of the Juneteenth flag.
Speakers for the event included the following: Rev. Jordan Harris of the United Methodist Church; Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn; Henry Milorin; Max Heinegg, Medford’s poet laureate; Aaron Olapade, a school committee member; Frances N. Nwajei, the director of the office of diversity, equity and inclusion; and Rev. Rose Andrews.
Each speaker spoke to the different aspects of why Juneteenth is important.
Nwajei spoke at the beginning of the evening, asking the audience to think about what freedom meant to them.
Harris, an upcoming pastor at the United Methodist Church, gave the opening prayer for the event. Then, Mayor Lungo-Koehn made the opening remarks for the event and delivered a proclamation declaring June 19 as the day to honor Juneteenth.
“This is an opportunity for us to learn a lesson about resilience, hope and uplifting Black voices,” Lungo-Koehn said.
Nwajei also shared written remarks from Medford City Council President Isaac Bears.
Milorin shared his experience celebrating Juneteenth as an immigrant from Haiti, the first freed Black-led republic. He urged attendees to use the day as a reminder of “the countless people who fought for their and others’ rights" and to make a commitment to change.
Somerville City Council President Will Mbah, who is a candidate for state representative in the 34th Middlesex District, shared the sentiment.
“We need to build the future we want,” Mbah said.
Max Heinegg read “Let America be America Again,” by Langston Hughes.
Olapade reminded the audience that Juneteenth has multiple meanings depending on the person. For Black Americans, Juneteenth is a celebration, while for others it should be about “reckoning honestly with our history."
Rev. Andrews gave the closing remarks. She spoke about her journey to Galveston, Texas, to learn about the history of Juneteenth.
“We are called to take action in our own unique ways,” Andrews said.
Though Juneteenth has been celebrated for years by the Black community in the U.S., it was only recently recognized as a federal holiday.
In 2021, Senator Ed Markey brought a bill to the U.S. House of Representatives to declare Juneteenth a federal holiday. It was passed in the Senate and signed into law by former President Joe Biden that same year. Medford started celebrating Juneteenth in 2022.
In 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that banned diversity, equity and inclusion in federal agencies, which led to agencies removing their observance of many holidays, including Juneteenth. Later, Trump ended the free-entry policy for national parks for both MLK Day and Juneteenth.
Lungo-Koehn said that despite what happens at the federal level, Medford would always be a place where everyone feels welcome.
“Now more than ever, it's important to recognize Juneteenth,” Lungo-Koehn said.
This year, Juneteenth comes during the 250th anniversary of the United States.
“It's bittersweet,” Nwajei said. “At the end of the day, black and brown people do not have independence.”
Nwajei emphasized that Juneteenth is also about reflection and that refusing to self reflect can hold back change.
Residents came for different reasons. Some came to celebrate Juneteenth’s cultural and historical significance.
For Giovanna Palencia, a resident of Salem Street, Juneteenth was a learning opportunity for both her and her daughter.
After the flag-raising ceremony, attendees went back into City Hall to eat food and listen to music from Willie J. Laws Band.
People of different races and ages sat together, ate and socialized. For Nwajei, this was the image that stood out to her the most because without realizing it everyone had come together as equals.
