MINNEAPOLIS — To celebrate Juneteenth, the south Minneapolis community gathered at the Hook & Ladder Monday for the first time ever. The fact that the Hook & Ladder is just a few steps away from the Minneapolis Police Third Precinct was not lost on the vendors or the organizers.
For Zachina Harps, the CEO and founder of Auras — a company that sells jars filled with crystals — healing came packaged in a little green stem with a sprout. Her crystal jars are often filled with water and come with a stem of bamboo.
"I use the good luck and fortune bamboo, not only because it's good luck and fortune — who doesn't want that, right? — but as they grow, they sort of stand for a representation of your own growth," Harps said.
A vendor who is dealing healing, it was only fitting at the festival that takes place mere blocks away from the now defunct Minneapolis police precinct.
"We've been through a lot, especially in the city of Minneapolis where we just pride ourselves on diversity and individuality," Harps said. "And to have that type of tragedy right in the heart of southside where I grew up, I think people are really ready to not only just move on, and learn from the situation."
"I've always been within a mile of this intersection," Ananda Bates said. "Watching the disruption, the chaos and issues and feeling some of the tension between law enforcement, as well as an African American man."
Bates, who also had a tent set up at the Soul of the Southside Festival with some of his art, said now that some of the shadows are literally gone, the community is changing.
"And the fact that there are buildings that just aren't here anymore, but to see the community still rising up and to have been able to meet and watch neighborhoods come together all at the same time."
On Monday, a community was brought together to celebrate Juneteenth, but also to ensure that its history isn't forgotten.
"It feels like, gosh, hasn't this always been how it's been?" Bates said. "Right, for a sort of my age and younger, certainly our kids, but this is great to have an opportunity to say this is the story this is the history, to be celebrated and remembered."
Resilience — celebrated as a whole.
"These are extremely durable plants," Harps said of her bamboo. "And I just think that as a people we're extremely durable. No matter what we're going through, we're fighting for our own happiness and wellbeing and I just think these are just a beautiful reminder of that."
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