Juneteenth article misrepresents purpose and passion

We recently read the article entitled, “New Orleans June­teenth” featured in the June 9 issue of The Louisiana Weekly. To our surprise, the article implied a lack of community support and cohesiveness among the New Orleans Juneteenth Com­mittee and the African-American Male and Female Institute’s Executive Director, Mr. John Mosley. The article also implied that the NOJC did a disservice to him personally. We respect and acknowledge the hard work the organization did in coordinating prior Juneteenth festivals over the years.

The New Orleans Juneteenth Committee is a consortium of volunteers committed to en­sure more and more people in New Orleans recognize the Juneteenth holiday for its historical significance, not only to the African-American population, but for all.

We are ardent supporters of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper and are extremely disheartened that our team was not contacted prior, to respond to the opinions expressed in the article. Had we been contacted, we would have welcomed the opportunity to provide clarity of the events related to the New Orleans June­teenth Committee and the African-American Male and Female Institute’s participation. We want to make crystal clear that the New Orleans Juneteenth Committee was never promised a grant from the City of New Orleans Mayor’s Office of Cultural Economy. Furthermore, the City of New Orleans never misled the NOJC in any way nor was this slated or implied at our committee meeting.

It is the opinion of this committee that the June 9 opinions stated by Mr. Mosley misrepresents our purpose and passion to work together and paints an ugly picture of what is a peaceful, professional relationship amongst organizations celebrating June­teenth.

– Bridget M. Johnson
Chair
New Orleans Juneteenth Committee

This article was originally published in the June 18, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper