Several of the area’s most visible Black community leaders say politics — not safety — guided what Akron NAACP President Judi Hill called the “Juneteenth fiasco.”
For Hill and her peers, the letter eight City Council members sent Akron Mayor Shammas Malik on Friday afternoon urging him to cancel all weekend Juneteenth events on city-owned property was a naked political punch that sparked an intergovernmental fight.
In the end, this fight hurts Akron’s Black community and those who celebrate Juneteenth, she said.
Hill discussed her concerns about the cancellations with reporters from the Akron Beacon Journal and Akron Signal Monday afternoon. She was joined by Akron NAACP Education Chair Lathardus Goggins II, Freedom BLOC Executive Director Ray Greene and civil rights attorney Imokhai Okolo.
“There was a political motive behind this,” said Okolo, also a Freedom BLOC organizer. “I don’t recall a fight let alone an argument at NAACP or Freedom BLOC events.”