‘When I say ‘Equity,’ you say ‘Now!’’

WKFL Park had space for everyone to safely celebrate Pride and Juneteenth on Saturday.

This year’s Liberation Celebration sponsored by 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Homer Pride, the third to combine Pride celebrations with acknowledgement and education of Juneteenth, was centered around teaching about and honoring intersectionality in the LGBTQIA+ community.

“Our group is very much about intersectionality and trying to make space (so) that everyone can be welcome from all aspects of their existence,” Jerrina Reed, president of Homer Pride’s board of directors, told Homer News in a June 15 interview. “There’s a huge overlap between BIPOC marginalization and the LGBTQ community. We are all still fighting due to oppression, and in that overlap we want to be able to recognize both.”

The scheduled Pride and Juneteenth community celebrations lasted for three days, Thursday through Saturday, with food, outreach activities and Juneteenth educational readings being conducted by Winter Marshall-Allen, director of the Homer Organization for More Equitable Relations, on Thursday and Friday.

“I believe it is important to celebrate Juneteenth and educate our community about its importance so that we can continue to acknowledge the full histories and systematic oppression that aspects of society have benefited from and continue to do so,” Marshall-Allen wrote in an email to Homer News. “I also firmly believe that it is important to recognize the joy and celebration that our community has attained and continues to strive for, as we push for justice for all.”

Saturday’s events began with a community walk from the HERC to WKFL Park, where parade walkers met vendors and other community members for the big Liberation Celebration.

Among vendors at the park were Cook Inletkeeper, Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic, Divinely Guided AK, Homer Art and Frame, Skiff Chicks Custom Design, Haven House, Resilience Coalition, Kachemak Bay Crafters, Identity Health Clinic, the Rec Room, Mystic Fireweed Boutique, Odin’s Ice, Choosing Our Roots, Stand Up Alaska, the Homer Organization for More Equitable Relations, All the Things, and Bubble Wrap.

The Liberation Celebration also showcased performers including DJ JerBear, Dr. Feelgood, Rosasha V. Adonis and Dolly Varden, with Robin Sparkles returning as the event host.

In addition to the vendors, music and participatory activities, the Liberation Celebration also included educational talks centered on both Juneteenth and what it means to be a part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

“Part of the outreach piece that we’re trying to navigate is (that) people still don’t know what Juneteenth is and why it’s being celebrated by African Americans,” Reed said. “I think that (educational outreach is) a main focus of us even having an event to begin with. To be in open public spaces and talk about what it (also) means to be LGBTQ, because when you’re not a part of that community, you don’t have a point of reference for what that means in society. And that’s why we chose this year to talk about intersectionality, so that people become familiar with that term and what it means to have multiple parts of yourself being recognized.”

Also included in the Juneteenth aspect of the celebration was a drum circle, a new event added to this year’s schedule.

“The significance of the drum in African culture is the manner in which stories are told, and the histories of tribes are maintained from generation to generation,” Marshall-Allen wrote. “The drum is a rhythmic manner of speaking that is transcendent and universal across all Indigenous cultures and tribes.”

As another way of honoring intersectionality in the community, the Liberation Celebration offered a low-sensory hour with reduced noise, book readings and meditation and breathing exercises in order to create a welcome space for neurodivergent people or individuals who experience increased sensitivity or anxiety in high-output environments.

“It’s important to have conversations about (intersectionality), to teach about acceptance and tolerance and how we can create a safer community together. And we do that by starting with education and exposure,” Reed said.

For more information about Homer Pride, visit homerakpride.com/ or facebook.com/pride99603/.

Homer community members parade down Pioneer Avenue on their way to the Liberation Celebration at WKFL Park hosted by Homer Pride on Saturday, June 17, 2023 in Homer Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)

A “Juneteenth Facts” educational sign is posted at the Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic booth at the Liberation Celebration at WKFL Park on Saturday, June 17, 2023 in Homer, Alaska. There were 17 signs posted around the park to educate attendees about Juneteenth. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)

Attendees of the Homer Pride and Juneteenth Liberation Celebration browse for handcrafted merch by Kachemak Bay Crafters at WKFL Park on Saturday, June 17, 2023 in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)

Homer community members celebrate Juneteenth and Pride at WKFL Park on Saturday, June 17, 2023 in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)

Educator Winter Marshall-Allen reads Maria Gianferrari’s “Be A Tree!” to the crowd gathered at WKFL Park for the Homer Pride Liberation Celebration on Saturday, June 17, 2023 in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)

Homer community members join the Liberation Celebration at WKFL Park hosted by Homer Pride on Saturday, June 17, 2023 in Homer Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)