GREEN BAY, Wis. (NBC 26) — For Stephanie Ortiz, Juneteenth was inconsistently celebrated as she grew up in Northeast Wisconsin.
"I lived in the Oneida community. I'm Native American and Afro Latina, and I grew up here all my life," Ortiz said. "Juneteenth has been hit or miss. So we've had it sprinkled throughout the years, but it hasn't been consistent."
Today, she is helping organize Juneteenth celebrations as a co-founder of Black Lives United and in partnership with We All Rise to make sure people of color feel seen and celebrate in our community.
"Growing up, there wasn't a lot of black and brown folks around, especially in positions of leadership and things like that," Ortiz said. "Our community is getting more diversity over the years. I'm starting to see more black and brown folks around when I go out in public or at community events. So I feel like it's even more important that the Black and Brown community really see that we're doing our best as community members to develop spaces and create spaces where we feel safe that we can celebrate and really be in space on one another and celebrate our joys and our accomplishments."
After participating in many protests against police brutality and racial injustices, it's about celebrating the progress that has been made to help the BIPOC community thrive and connect.
"Last year has been really heavy, especially on the black community with, you know, the pandemic, and George Floyd and police brutality, I mean, the list goes on about all of the pain," Ortiz said. "But I think we also get over inundated with all of the Black pain in the Black suffering that we don't see enough of the Black joy. We don't see enough of the solidarity of multiple communities of color and White folks coming together around issues that matter."
Ortiz says the best way for White and non-BIPOC allies to support Juneteenth locally is by showing up to events. Black Lives United and We All Rise is hosting an event Saturday, June 19th at noon at Murphy Park with the goal of highlighting local black-owned businesses for people to shop with.
"Hopefully meet some people that don't look like you. Investing in black businesses is a huge way to be in solidarity with the black community," Ortiz said. "Sometimes black businesses don't even have the privilege of being heavily marketed or being on the main streets where white folks patron, right, and so this may be the first time where, or one of a few opportunities where White folks and non-Black folks are able to see while there's a lot of Black businesses and then a lot of Black entrepreneurs right here in Green Bay."
"You don't need to go to the surrounding city to get jewelry, hair, lotions, essential oils. You know, they're right here," Ortiz said. "So we're really looking forward to amplifying the Black businesses and Black entrepreneurs in the area so that we can start to invest in the community locally."
The event will be family-friendly, with food trucks, a free community meal, trivia, and an 80-foot inflatable obstacle course. Ortiz hopes the opportunity to celebrate BIPOC becomes more frequent in Northeast Wisconsin and wants the next generation to feel less marginalized than she did.
"I want them to feel like this holiday is just as important as the Fourth of July," Ortiz said. "Many folks in our community are even not participating in the Fourth of July any longer. When you think about 1776 to 1865, I mean that's a really big difference, right? So just literally thinking about that range of numbers, like when you put them side by side, the significance of it."
"Young people, all young people from this community should really look forward to this event and understand the significance," Ortiz said. "There were quite a few folks even in the planning meeting that said, 'hey, this is the first time I ever heard of Juneteenth.' So some people like it's not even really on their radar. Freedom Day is not even on their radar. So it was really clear that we had to start at a really foundational, educational level as to the importance of what Juneteenth is and the significance of it the history of it."
