Guest Opinion | Mercy Young: A Juneteenth Story

“Hold those things that tell your history and protect them…The ability to have somebody to tell  your story to is so important…it says: ‘I was here.’…” 

—Maya Angelou 

“How do we celebrate Juneteenth?” I asked my great aunt. Her smile beams. She tells the  story of a big-eyed little girl, with a dashing smile as she races to the bay. It’s the roaring  twenties and all the kids are in a flurry to see the river boat. Atop is a jazz favorite, the Dixieland  Band, radiating the night as it serenades the whole town in epic sway. Galveston is at its finest  this Juneteenth. People of all ages dance together, and enjoy delicious BBQ, watermelon, Nehi  soda water, and homemade ice cream. The little girl clasps the leathery hand of her grandfather  with great excitement as the three day celebration ensues. 

This is the story of my great grandmother, holding the hand of her grandfather who was  born a slave in 1849. It was a family tradition to visit Galveston each Juneteenth to joyfully  celebrate their liberation from slavery. My great aunt retells this story with immense pride and  deep sentiment.  

Our family migrated from Texas during the Great Migration, to find opportunity and a  place to call home in the Alta-Pasadena hills. Despite a racial covenant in the deed of the house  that prohibited blacks, as well as constant discrimination on the job, my great grandfather  excelled as one of the first black civil engineers of Los Angeles, designing the freeways that lead  to Pasadena.  

Today, my great aunt is a retired social worker and a beloved artist who invested 30 years  in helping the most vulnerable receive housing. Sadly, over the past 60 years, she has seen many  family members, dear friends and colleagues get priced out of Pasadena. 

U.S. Census Data indicates the black population in America increased by 1.7 percent  since 1980 but halved in the city of Pasadena. That’s one in two black persons gone from our  community. Further, studies by UCLA show that half of Pasadena’s renters are rent burdened and  half of Los Angeles County renters are behind in their rent, placing them at risk of eviction.  Recently, the Miami Herald revealed the demographic that suffered the greatest mortality rate  due to the COVID-19 pandemic was low income service workers, who are predominantly  Hispanic and black. Low-income Hispanic men were 27 times more likely to die of covid than  high-income white women.  

These hard working black and brown communities have been suffering the most, while  spending the majority of their income on paying rent. The National Center for Children in  Poverty provide ample data on how-income families, and children are suffering some of the  worst repercussions of price gouging, gentrification and inflation despite having a rich and deep  history in the community. 

Juneteenth commemorates a people of resilience, who endured two and a half years of  prolonged slavery in the South even after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. This special holiday is central to communal celebrations of black liberation and a right to pursue the  American dream just as much as anyone else.  

However, the ability to obtain a home—and afford to remain there—has become less of a  reality for many, especially for hard working people of color. Families like my own are  disappearing from the map of this city, so we need an immediate solution to prevent further  displacement. Studies by Harvard and DIW Berlin discovered rent control, throughout the world,  prevents displacement, keeping hard working families safe, healthier and together. 

How do we celebrate Juneteenth? We gather together with the community, embrace one  another, celebrate black liberation and gratefully ally with our neighbors who stand in solidarity  to support rent control because this measure can help protect our families from being priced out;  thus, honoring our story, and affirming that we, too, belong here.

Mercy Young is a Pasadena resident and the campaign coordinator for the Pasadena Rent Control Campaign.