For the first time in five years, the City of Olympia will not sponsor the Rebecca Howard Park Juneteenth celebration this year.
The timing of the city’s decision to pull sponsorship has led event organizers to speculate that the move is “retaliation” for a public clash between Olympia Mayor Dontae Payne and event partner Javoen Byrd in February.
“After all the work and all the years that I put in, it just feels like a slap in the face,” said Shawna Hawk, executive director of both The Women of Color Leadership Movement and Media Island International.
The Women in Color Leadership Movement, Media Island International, and the Hawk Foundation for Research and Education in African Culture, have been partnering with the City of Olympia for an annual Juneteenth celebration at Rebecca Howard Park since 2021.
The event commemorates June 19, 1865 — the date when 2,000 Black Union troops of the 25th Infantry arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, and liberated 250,000 slaves.
In Olympia, the Juneteenth celebration at Rebecca Howard Park — named for Olympia’s first Black businesswoman — honors the empowerment of Black community members and promotes healing, prosperity and resilience.
The event drew over 100 attendees last year, according to previous reporting.
The city’s sponsorship comes with free use of the city park and amenities like porta potties, insurance and tents. City staff would also help with the required permits and paperwork, according to Hawk.
In prior years, a contract between Hawk's organizations and the City of Olympia for the Juneteenth celebration was completed and signed in early April.
However, Hawk said, this year there was a stark lack of communication from the city about the event until a city official met with Hawk on Friday, April 17.
During that meeting, Hawk learned that the city would not sponsor Hawk’s Juneteenth event this year. City staff did not tell her why, Hawk said.
“The city is grateful for the strong partnership it has had with Media Island International for the last five years,” Olympia Assistant City Manager Stacey Ray said in an emailed statement to the Thurston Chronicle on Monday, April 27. “After an internal evaluation of that partnership, city leaders decided the timing was right to explore opportunities to develop partnerships with different organizations as part of an ongoing effort to bring new voices and experiences to our cultural events.”
The city is in discussions with two other organizations to potentially partner with for a separate Juneteenth event this year, Ray stated. Details of that event have not yet been released.
The timing of the city’s decision has created a “painful, stressful situation” for event organizers, who Hawk said have been planning the Juneteenth event for months under the assumption that they had the city’s support.
Hawk said communications with the city over the Juneteenth event fell apart quickly after the Feb. 3 Olympia City Council meeting where Payne and Byrd got into a verbal dispute during the city’s Black History Month proclamation.
The city had invited Byrd, as executive director of the Hawk Foundation, to speak during the proclamation celebration.
During his allotted comment period, Byrd addressed the city council and said, “Do you think my ancestors care about the discomfort of a racist council member?”’
Byrd’s microphone was then cut off. He continued his prepared remarks, despite Payne interrupting him with the gavel and repeatedly saying his name.
City council ultimately went into a 17-minute recess, with the verbal dispute between Payne and Byrd continuing for several minutes after the council returned.
Byrd later told a Thurston Chronicle reporter that his comments stemmed from a private conversation he had with a current Olympia city council member two years prior. During a discussion at the time about the City of Olympia partnering with a city in Nigeria for a Sister Cities International program, the council member made statements that Byrd interpreted as racist towards Black and African people.
Byrd said the city has never properly addressed that councilor’s comments.
“I’m angry that this racial comment was allowed to just fester,” Byrd said, adding that he didn’t believe the city’s handling of that situation aligned with its efforts to present itself as an anti-racist city.
Byrd additionally said he believed Payne acted improperly when he cut off his remarks on Feb. 3.
“There was no cussing, there was no calling out any council member by name. I did say, ‘Hey, you know, it's a shame that the city and the council is defending racist comments,’ but that's all within compliance,” Byrd said.
At the time, Payne said, “I have never been (more) disrespected by anyone in this city than in that particular moment right here in the dais in this room by another Black man on Black History Month. Never,” and said Byrd was “out of line.”
Byrd and several other members of Olympia’s Black community, including Hawk, signed onto a letter emailed to the City of Olympia asking to have a conversation about what happened during the Feb. 3 Black History Month proclamation.
The city never replied, according to Byrd and Hawk, who both said the next time they heard from anyone at the city was to schedule a meeting to tell Hawk the city would not sponsor her Juneteenth event.
Byrd said it was “obvious” to him and others that the decision was "retaliatory” for the Feb. 3 spat and the email that Hawk signed onto.
“She didn’t even get up there and do public comment (or) anything crazy, she just on the email thread said ‘Hey, this isn’t right. The city has been neglecting Black voices,’” Byrd said of Hawk.
Hawk said she has been working closely with the City of Olympia since 2016, helping organize a series of guest speaker events and workshops to address cultural and racial challenges within the community. She started organizing the annual Juneteenth event in part to ensure that the city upheld its promise to develop Rebecca Howard Park as a place to respect and honor the city’s Black history.
The city approved a development plan for the park in March.
“It felt like we were really moving forward,” Hawk said.
Of her decade of work with the city, she said, “I’m trying to be patient and slowly effect change.”
The subject of Hawk running her Juneteenth celebration independently from the city was first broached last year, according to Hawk.
At the time, Hawk said she asked for the city to maintain its partnership for a couple more years so she could line up other sponsors and organize fundraising efforts.
She was wholly unprepared for the city to pull its sponsorship this year — especially not two months before the event, she said.
“This feels like two, three steps forward, four steps back,” Hawk said.
The City of Olympia will still waive the park use fee for Hawk’s event, the city confirmed. But event organizers are now responsible for organizing amenities, insurance coverage, and figuring out complex paperwork that Hawk said was previously handled by the city.
Event organizers also need to come up with money to pay performers and other event-related costs that the city used to cover.
Hawk is still trying to find a way to make the Rebecca Howard Park Juneteenth event happen, and is planning to appeal to the Olympia City Council during its May 5 meeting.
The City of Olympia maintains that its decision not to sponsor the Rebecca Howard Park event this year does not mean that a city-sponsored Juneteenth celebration will not happen, or that the city will not commemorate Juneteenth in other ways.
“The City of Olympia held its first Juneteenth event in 2021 and has marked the date each year since with a special commemoration. Throughout that time, we have continued to grow the ways in which we recognize this deeply important milestone in American’s history, providing a variety of opportunities for community members to celebrate in meaningful ways,” Ray stated.
Other ways the city commemorates Juneteenth include a city council proclamation, raising a flag over city hall, and recognizing Juneteenth as an official city holiday.
“We are continually looking for ways to expand our cultural events and provide the best access not only for communities in Olympia but also perhaps one day at a regional level with surrounding cities,” Ray stated.
For those looking to support the Rebecca Howard Park event, Hawk asks people to email her at shawna@mediaislandinternational.org. Event organizers are currently looking for sponsors, community partners, donations and volunteers.
Hawk and Byrd are also encouraging people to join them at the May 5 Olympia City Council meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. at Olympia City Hall, 601 4th Ave E, Olympia. Those who want to be part of that rally, and possibly others in the future, are asked to email reach out to Javoen@hfeducation.org or Kmoffat.work@gmail.com.
