Celebrating Juneteenth Day in Washington County with Josh Schoemann and Julie Driscoll

Fuzz Martin 0:09

,: 2022

Fuzz Martin 1:30

Julie and Josh, thank you for joining me today to talk about Juneteenth in Washington County. Very important date and so but first before we get to what the county is doing for Juneteenth day, and the third annual celebration of Juneteenth they have Joshua can give us a bit of a background on what Juneteenth is.

Josh Schoemann 1:49

n Galveston, Texas. So it was: 1865

Fuzz Martin 2:28

How did we start a Juneteenth Celebration here in Washington County,

Josh Schoemann 2:32

Back in: 2020

Fuzz Martin 4:31

Excellent, and Well, I'm glad that we're we're doing this because I totally agree with you. And my wife as a teacher, she grew up in Chicagoland. And so when she came up here, she's like, we don't do any of the of those things that we used to do. It wouldn't she lives in Illinois, and we don't recognize a lot of those, at least in the in the rural areas that they do in Milwaukee and some other more populous areas, but it is something that I think is important and it's it's good that we're here in Washington County, recognizing that So kudos to you for, for getting that ball rolling in. And Julie, what is the process been like to get this started when Josh said here, you've got four weeks to get it done.

Julie Driscoll 5:09

Yeah, well, um, so so our first annual it was four weeks it was very quick. But you know, the whole purpose and focus that we really had is, is really to maintain sort of a faith focus on this event, as well as being you know, purposeful, intentional and respectful. You know, we've been led by to two pastors in Washington County, Pastor Clarissa Martinelli, who is from the Fifth Avenue United Methodist Church, and Pastor Henderson from Barron's family Worship Center in Germantown. And so they've, you know, they've really been guiding us. And I think, you know, they've been really focusing on helping us to move the needle, right. That's really the conversation that we've been having for the last three years. And so last year, with their guidance, we formed a committee for our second annual Juneteenth day, and we were able to engage two really remarkable speakers, Eugene Pitchford, who's from Concordia University, and Orlando Owens, who, at that time was out of Senator Ron Johnson's office, and they came in and really helped to really make the day respectful to really acknowledge the need here in Washington County to help people to just be educated about what Juneteenth day is. And so for this third annual event, we're following that same format very faith focused pastor Martinelli from the United Methodist Church is our emcee and is guiding us. And we have a really great speaker this year as well. His name is Robert Bell, and he's a pastor out of the Family Life Church in Milwaukee.

Fuzz Martin 6:38

Excellent. So what does the typical Juneteenth Celebration program look like here in the county,

Josh Schoemann 6:44

arning what I learned back in: 2020

Fuzz Martin 7:39

Talk about a bit about the actual program. So we've got the—you said it's faith based, they have an invocation and such as right, and then we go into some other portions of the actual event for the day.

Julie Driscoll 7:52

h is actually a hymn from the: 1900

Fuzz Martin 9:02

So Julie, can you give us some of the details? Obviously, it's going to take place on June 19. But when and where what time, and where's the Juneteenth Celebration going to happen here in Washington County?

Julie Driscoll 9:13

Yep. So it's Sunday, June 19. Father's Day, great day to get outside and celebrate that wonderful day. It's at one o'clock here in downtown West Bend. The event will be hosted at the old County Courthouse. I think the whole event will probably take about an hour. And there'll be some some opportunity for you know, mingling and celebration at the end,

Fuzz Martin 9:33

Perfect, and then if people want to support the cause. How can they do so? Yeah. So this

Julie Driscoll 9:37

year, we're wanting to expand our committee and we're wanting to expand, you know, people who are interested in and invested in in furthering and continuing this celebration. And so we're going to have an opportunity for people to use a QR code at the event so that they can provide us their name and information and what they might be interested in supporting or being involved in next year's event.

Fuzz Martin 9:59

Again, to both of you Julian, Josh, the idea that we have this now in Washington County, and that we're going to continue the celebration and recognize and not just when things were really burning hot with the Black Lives Matter movement, and George Floyd and those things, but even just continuing this and starting a tradition, for this to happen here in our county, I think is important. And I, again, praise you both for having the courage to do this and getting it rolling here in our county to help not only support those here who live in our county, who now have a day to reflect and to celebrate, but then also for the education of our citizens here in Washington County, the residents and children. So thank you.

Josh Schoemann: 10:40

Well, thank you and in true form to how we've tried to set this up, I gotta give the honor to the people who, who made this all possible the Emancipation Proclamation, the folks who fought in the Civil War, the ancestors of were slaves who brought themselves out and have built themselves up and obviously Glory to God. I mean, this is it's, it's kind of interesting to hear it referred to as courageous because it was simply it seemed like just the right thing to do. And it seems like something that's very unifying. We have so many things in society right now that are tearing us apart. What better way than to bring ourselves together in a shared history and a shared understanding and, and that's what we hope it's about. I mean, I'm excited for the 19th I've the last couple of years, I've been excited for the 19th I think it'd be a great event. And Father's Day is so very special as well to do them together I think is going to be very cool. Look forward to seeing people out there. Perfect.

Fuzz Martin: 11:32

Thanks again. Thank you. Thanks again to county executive Josh Schoemann and Washington County's Chief Health and Human Services Officer Julie Driscoll for joining me on this week's episode of Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. I hope you will join them at the Tower Heritage Center in West Bend for this year's Juneteenth Day celebration. If you like this show, please be sure to subscribe on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts or wherever you'd like to listen to podcasts. You can also find more information about the show at fifteenwithfuzz.com. That's fifteenwithfuzz.com new episodes arrive in your favorite pod catcher every Monday morning at midnight. I wake up early, just like a baker. put this all together. I don't I schedule it. I scheduled this on Friday. So there. Thanks again. Have a great week and we'll talk to you next Monday right here on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.