JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Juneteenth is a day that one Jacksonville advocate always looks forward to. Take a look inside her work to ensure the younger generation knows what Juneteenth is.
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Nubian Roberts, the Black Constituency Director of Florida Rising, said she gets excited every year.
“Juneteenth is like my Christmas,” Roberts said.
But it didn’t exactly start out that way.
“As a person who was raised in Europe because my father was in the military, I didn’t know a lot about black history, and then to find out Juneteenth was the day that every single black person in the South knew that they were liberated from slavery,” Roberts said. “It kind of knocked my socks off that people didn’t know when it happened.”
That phrase “didn’t know” is a big part of why Roberts does what she does.
Her group, Black Power Rising, operates within Florida Rising, which advocates for marginalized communities. That includes information sharing.
“We come from a time of the internet,” Roberts said. “Back then, we didn’t have it, so it’s great to have information flow quickly now, but back then, we didn’t have that luxury.”
In celebration of Juneteenth, Roberts highlighted the three events her group is hosting, one of which will be in St. Petersburg and will be called “Healing our Kings.” This will focus on mental health for Black men.
There are also plans in place to light up the Main Street Bridge in the commemorative red, black, and green colors like they did last year. Roberts said she’ll be working with Kelly Frazier.
She spearheads the Northside Coalition, which was founded by her father, Ben Fraizer.
Most notably, Roberts said there will be a community event celebrating Nathan Myers. In 2019, Myers and his uncle, Clifford Williams, were exonerated after serving more than 40 years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit.
“That’s probably out of all the events that I’m most excited about because...it’s always wonderful to see someone get justice when it comes down to their freedom. He really represents what Juneteenth stands for,” Roberts said.
That’s why Roberts said sharing these stories is vital.
“It’s important that we as parents, no matter what our race is, we talk about Juneteenth with our children, because if we do not talk about what happened in our history, it could happen again,” Roberts said. “My mom always said if you want to keep a secret from someone, put it in a book, because most people don’t read.”
She said that though slavery was a dark time, it doesn’t define Black people.
“We can emerge into greatness if we just continue to support each other, and we want to continue to shame racism and fight it. And the way that we fight racism is through love, 100%,” Roberts said.
Celebrating Juneteenth as a day of Freedom, ensuring its legacy will have a lasting impact on future generations for years to come.
Watch “Tracing the Roots: The Story of Juneteenth” on News4JAX or News4JAX+ at 7 p.m.
