BURLINGTON, Wis. — The Burlington Coalition for Dismantling Racism hosted its 4th annual Juneteenth celebration over the weekend.

“It amazes me how many members of our community don’t know what Juneteenth is and what it symbolizes,” said Laura Bielefeldt. “Juneteenth symbolizes freedom for the slaves that didn’t realize they were set free from the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas.”

Laura Bielefeldt is the president of the coalition. She said the goal behind the celebration is growth and community engagement. 

“Letting everyone know that we still have a lot of work to do there’s still amazing gains,” said Bielefeldt.

She said the coalition was created four years ago in hopes to expose, disrupt and dismantle racism and racist systems in the community. 

“The first couple of years we had a lot of hecklers and would antiprotest and things like that,” said  Bielefeldt. “As you see today we’ve had nothing but love and support. So really getting out and engaging the community and educating for those that might not know. A lot of things are ignorance and people don’t know what they don’t know. We have to engage the community in conversation in order to grow. That’s what BCDR and Juneteenth is about.” 

Racine County Supervisor for District 1, Nick Demske said he’s proud of the coalition for hosting this event for the community. 

“Until community members who have investment in their community, who have ownership in their community, and who have connections in their community, bring these important topics to the ground here, it doesn’t really have an impact it completely bypasses community,” said Demske. 

Bielefeldt hopes to continue the celebration for the years to come, to celebrate and educate those on the importance of Juneteenth.