The Mercer Island council officially endorsed Friday, June 19 as Juneteenth 2020 in the city at its virtual meeting Tuesday (June 16).

One MI, an equity-focused network organization on the Island, had asked that the council endorse the day. Other city organizations to support Juneteenth 2020 include the Mercer Island Parent-Teacher Association, the Mercer Island School Board of Directors and the Mercer Island Community Fund.

Juneteenth, which is officially recognized in 47 states, commemorates the emancipation of remaining slaves in the Confederacy — specifically Texas — on June 19, 1865. Although slaves had technically been freed in 1862 via the Emancipation Proclamation, the small presence of Union troops in Texas weakened efforts to keep this effectively enforced.

The Juneteenth proclamation, a federal order read by Union army general Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas, solidified liberation in the state.

One MI, with backing from the council, is calling on Mercer Island residents to celebrate the day by holding individual front yard/park cookouts and picnics — all, by necessity, socially distanced — from 5-8 p.m. in lieu of a larger in-person gathering. (One MI hosted its first Juneteenth celebration in 2018, which additionally raised $667 for StolenYouth, an organization seeking to end child sex-trafficking in Washington state.)

Mercer Island High School’s student-run radio station, KMIH 88.9 The Bridge, will concurrently be broadcasting a celebratory playlist encompassing music from African-American artists.

Mercer Island’s city council is one of several on the Eastside to officially recognize the holiday. Other cities that have endorsed the holiday this year include Kirkland, Kenmore and others.

To watch the proclamation in full, go to the meeting recording on YouTube.