Celebrating freedom: Juneteenth event in Monessen brings residents together

By Matt Petras
For the MVI

The newly-formed Monessen Human Relations Commission and Mayor Matt Shorraw held a Juneteenth ceremony Saturday, representing not the first time Monessen has celebrated Juneteenth, but the first time since the holiday became a federal holiday.
“Monessen has been a diverse community since it was formed in 1890, and I think it means a lot to everyone here that this is finally recognized,” Shorraw told The Mon Valley Independent.
President Joe Biden declared Juneteenth a federal holiday on Jun. 17, the first holiday to be approved since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983. Monessen has hosted events for Juneteenth, a celebration of the end of African-American slavery in the United States, as far back as the early 1900s, Shorraw said.
“It’s not a new thing,” Shorraw said. “It kind of fell away maybe mid-century, throughout the 70s, but now it’s nice to see it coming back.”
Shorraw spoke at the event along with other community leaders, such as members of the Monessen Human Relations Commission. The commission, the first of its kind in Westmoreland County, promotes diversity and anti-discrimination.
“We have to continue to work for equality and justice for all people,” commission member Darla Holmes said to the crowd.
One of the commission’s five board members, Holmes grew up in Donora but has grown attached to Monessen. She retired after 33 years from California University of Pennsylvania.
“My career ended but my life didn’t end and my mission didn’t end,” Holmes told the MVI. “I felt this would be a way for me to continue the work bringing forth equality and diversity into our communities.”
The event also featured performances from Tamika Arnold, who played “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” Monica Cramer, who sang “Jesus Say Yes” and Zalendria Hardison, who read the poem “The Hill We Climb,” originally written and read by Amanda Gorman at Biden’s inauguration.
A power outage and light rainfall intruded upon the afternoon event, but this did not keep the community from its celebration. Monessen Councilwoman Lois Thomas, wearing a Juneteenth T-shirt, was the first to speak at the microphone without any power. She spoke with ease.
“I knew there was a reason God blessed me with this voice,” she told the crowd.
Thomas drew attention to modern day concerns of African-Americans, warning the crowd to not take the designation of Juneteenth as a federal holiday as the end of the fight for equality and justice.
“What African-Americans also want is economic equality. What African-Americans also want is educational equality. What African-Americans also want is police accountability,” Thomas said. “We want reparations for being held Black and excluded from rights and opportunities that should have been ours in the first place, not because of our color, but for the mere, simple fact that we are Americans, too.”

Matt Petras / For the Mon Valley Independent
Monessen Councilwoman Lois Thomas speaks during the Juneteenth event in the city on Saturday.