'Practice Freedom Each and Every Day': USD Celebrates Juneteenth
University of San Diego staff, students and faculty – from all parts of campus – came together last week for the Fifth Annual Juneteenth Celebration. The event is organized by the Black Employee Alliance (BEA), and is full of both fun and reflection.
Caterers served up hearty helpings of soul food to dozens of attendees, who filled the walls of the Dillabough Ministry Center with conversation and laughter. The BEA has had to add more seating each year, as the event grows in popularity. This year, there was overflow seating along the walls, the last bit of space available in the building.
“It has grown exponentially,” said Assistant Dean Pauline Berryman Powell. “Some may know it’s Juneteenth, but they don’t know the significance of it. Here, we talk about it. We’re in this wonderful Ministry Center surrounded by saints, and Juneteenth has a lot to do with faith. It’s about struggle and celebrating freedom. When you think about that, you think about faith. And today you see the culmination of faith and Juneteenth all together in this place.”
“Juneteenth means recognition. Recognition of the struggles over the years. But it also indicates hope for the future.”
While the event is celebratory, it strives to go deeper, drawing on the well of thought leaders within the BEA and across USD’s campus.
Michael Lovette-Colyer, PhD, vice president of mission integration, delivered an invocation that touched on themes of human dignity. Kyle Brooks, PhD, assistant professor of theology and religious studies, talked about the history of Juneteenth in a rousing speech about the pitfalls of nostalgia, and why it’s important to look at the past critically in order to shape a better future.
“If we are to practice a rigorous hope on this day that celebrates the ongoing work of freedom, we must understand that freedom is not an event, it is an interminable practice,” Brooks said. “And we must do the work of making ourselves free daily. … Let it be a call, a command, a commitment to practice freedom each and every day.”
Finally, the keynote presentation was delivered by a titan of the USD faculty, Roy L. Brooks, JD, Warren Distinguished Professor of Law. Brooks, who was recruited to the university in 1979 by then-Provost Sister Sally Furay, retired this spring after a long career of teaching and fighting for civil rights. Cory Gooding, PhD, director of Africana studies, received some chuckles before loud applause as he rattled off the long list of Brooks’ accomplishments, as he welcomed him to the stage.
Brooks called it his last academic presentation. Here, at a Juneteenth event on a campus where, nearly 50 years earlier, he was a pioneer. A fitting conclusion, perhaps, to a storied career.
“When Sister Furay recruited me, we hoped something like this would happen,” Roy L. Brooks said. “When I look around and see all of these people of color, it’s just amazing.”
Additionally, this year, organizers used the event to honor the late Robert Lee, a longtime USD employee who worked in the law library, and was a member of the BEA.