The National Black United Front’s annual Sankofa Caravan to the Ancestors is one of the most beautiful and sacred traditions in contemporary Black life. Each year, hundreds of Black people from Houston and across the nation gather on Galveston beach—the birthplace of Juneteenth—to venerate our ancestors, pour libations, and renew our strength for the ongoing struggle toward liberation. It is a day of reverence, reflection, and reclamation.
However, this year, deliberate attempts were made to disrupt and disturb that peace.
Despite NBUF securing all the proper permits and permissions from the City of Galveston and Galveston Police, two white men made it their white business to interrupt the ceremony.
They called 5-0, accused Caravan participants of violating beach ordinances, and tried to provoke confrontation. One of them even performed the oldest act in the American racial playbook—pretending to be attacked by a Black man. He stumbled backward, threw himself to the ground, and shouted for the police to “do something.”…