STRATEGIC PRIORITY: Workforce, Education, & Equity
AGENDA DATE: June 14, 2023
COUNCIL DISTRICT(S): All
DEPARTMENT: Mayor and City Council Office
EXECUTIVE: T.C. Broadnax
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SUBJECT
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A resolution amending Resolution No. 21-0777 to direct the City Manager to fly the Juneteenth Flag on the flagpole at City Hall (1500 Marilla) and other City operated facilities in place of the City of Dallas Official Flag from June 16 to June 19, 2023 and annually thereafter on June 19, to celebrate Juneteenth Month - Financing: No cost consideration to the City
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BACKGROUND
The City of Dallas is committed to the pursuit of initiatives that promote equity and inclusion and ending discrimination, prejudice, and injustice, and further recognizing Juneteenth celebrates freedom and commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.
The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln effective January 1, 1863, freeing all enslaved. However, southern slave owners ignored that order. On June 19, 1865, two and a half years following the order, union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas to enforce the president’s order.
Through other systems of oppression, such as sharecropping, Jim Crow, redlining, and mass incarceration, the exploitation of African American bodies and wealth continued past slavery and persists. Thus, affecting the physical and mental health, safety, homeownership and education of African American people.
June 19 has been celebrated in communities across the nation as Juneteenth also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day, Emancipation Day, and Black Independence Day
Juneteenth provides an opportunity to celebrate African American heritage and honor the lives, sacrifices and contributions that are woven into the American fabric.
PRIOR ACTION/REVIEW (COUNCIL, BOARDS, COMMISSIONS)
On May 22, 2019, the City Council passed a resolution that outlines Dallas’ deep resolved to promote equity and inclusion by Resolution No. 19-0804.
On May 12, 2021, the City Council amended Resolution No. 20-0945 to direct the city manager to fly the Pride Flag with the City of Dallas Seal on the flagpole at City Hall (1500 Marilla) and other City operated facilities in place of the City of Dallas Official Flag for the month of June 2021, and annually thereafter, for the month of June by Resolution No. 21-0777.
On September 22, 2021, the City Council proclaimed Juneteenth to be a City Holiday by City Council bringing awareness and consciousness to a crucial day in history by Resolution No. 21-1958; Ordinance No. 32005.
On June 18, 2023, the City Council approved a resolution directing the city manager to fly on the flagpole at City Hall Plaza the Pride Flag with the City of Dallas Seal in place of the City of Dallas Official Flag for the remainder of June 2020, and annually thereafter for the month of June to celebrate Pride Month by Resolution No. 20-0945.
FISCAL INFORMATION
No cost consideration to the City.