YWCA’s Juneteenth potluck brings people together in song
The first Juneteenth potluck at the Butler YWCA on Monday evening, June 19, brought dozens of people across Butler County together in song to celebrate peace, unity and freedom.
“We have a fabulous turnout. We're so excited. People are all meeting one another, which is fabulous,” said Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer, of the B’nai Abraham synagogue, one of the organizers of the event. “You can see the success. We’ve pretty much filled every table.
For the first 45 minutes, guests socialized over food, which was prepared and brought by the public. The Rev. Donald Hammonds of the Community of Reconcilliation Church in Pittsburgh opened the event with a speech on the significance of Juneteenth.
“We all have to know that none of us can be free, unless all of us are free,” Hammonds said. “And the more that we can celebrate this, the more that we can enjoy each other's company and the freedom that we have been given … the more that we can make our world a more peaceful, a more loving, a more accepting world. That's what we are looking for.”
After Hammonds’ speech, most of the guests were urged to move to the stage to form a close-knit circle, as percussionist Karen O’Donnell and pianist Alan Kitchen led everyone in song, with the music coming from the Justice Choir Songbook.
All songs from the book contain themes of peace, love and overcoming adversity, and are all free to use. The set opened with “Be the Change” and closed with “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
The potluck was organized by the Anti-Racist Focus Group — a subsection of the Butler Clergy Network, a cross-sectional group of clergy leaders from across the county who routinely work together on issues that affect the community.
The Anti-Racist Focus Group formed in 2020, shortly after the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in Minnesota that summer. The group meets every Monday at 7 p.m.
“I think it's really important for us to understand each other and to listen to each other,” Hammonds said. “We're hoping that hearing beautiful music will help soothe those of us who are concerned and worried and fearful of the times to come, and we want to be able to bring some inner peace to people.”
Prior to the Juneteenth potluck, the focus group and the YWCA first collaborated in February for the “Love Your Neighbor” gathering, which was prompted by a controversial billboard on Route 422 in Butler County which read, “FBI corrupt and dangerous - THE GESTAPO” and featured a large swastika. (The swastika was later removed.)
“We decided that there needed to be some sense of soothing, some sense of expression of our concern about that,” Hammonds said.
The Anti-Racist Focus Group is hoping to expand on the success of the Juneteenth potluck with more events in the future, although there are no concrete plans as of yet.
