Eric Jones Jr., above, kicked off Red Bank’s third annual Juneteenth celebration with a rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in Johnny Jazz Park Sunday.

Organized by the Parks and Recreation Committee’s Juneteenth subcommittee, the day’s events included a march down Shrewsbury Avenue, free food and an African drumming performance. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

“Juneteenth is not ‘black history.’ Juneteenth is not Emancipation history. Juneteenth is American history,” Reverend Terrence Porter, of Pilgrim Baptist Church, told the gathering of serveral hundred attendees gathered in Ralph Gatta “Johnny Jazz” Park. “And that’s why we ought to celebrate it as significantly as we do Independence Day.

“We’re still struggling to this day,” Porter said, “but at least there’s laws on the books that say all of us were created equal.”

Federal, state and local governments will be closed for business Monday to mark the Juneteenth holiday.

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