Spokane commemorates MLK Day, Juneteenth after days diminished by the National Parks Service

Amid an effort to scrub the commemoration of the history of slavery and racism from national parks, dozens gathered in Spokane City Council chambers to insist on recognizing those holidays and that history.

They spoke in support of a resolution before the City Council Monday to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, to commemorate Black “resistance and resilience” in American history, and to reject attempts to diminish the prominence of that history.

Lisa Gardner, president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP and communications director for the City Council, spearheaded the effort for the city to recognize the historic importance of MLK Day and Juneteenth, authoring Monday’s resolution in response to the federal government’s “clear attempt to dilute history and historical changemakers,” the resolution states.

Some, like April Eberhardt, editor of The Black Lens, and her 16-year-old son, Emmanuel, spoke about the sacrifices made by Black Americans to secure basic rights during the Civil Rights movement and the reactionary violence they frequently faced. Emmanuel noted a trip he had made last summer to visit various Civil Rights memorials, including one that bore his family’s surname.

“Standing in those places made something very clear to me,” he said. “Black history is not a sad story. It is the full story.”

“When we’re talking about honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Juneteenth, we’re not just talking about adding extra meaningless holidays for free park passes,” Emmanuel added. “We are talking about paying homage to the cost of freedom Black Americans paid.”

Last year, federal officials removed Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from the list of holidays on which people get free entry into National Parks. At the same time, they added what the National Park Service labels “Flag Day/President Trump’s birthday” as a holiday with free access.

“Flag Day is a nonfederal holiday which would have remained nominal had it not coincided with President Trump’s birthday,” Robert Teal said at Monday’s meeting. “Such tribute to a sitting president is both sycophancy and a grotesque self-aggrandizement more fit for a king or a dictator than a democratically elected official.”

Monday’s testimony was frequently tense, with speakers who felt they were having to defend Black history against the federal government also expressing frustration with what they saw as attempts by some council members to dilute the resolution’s message.

A significant amount of Monday’s public commentary centered on an amendment that Councilman Michael Cathcart had unsuccessfully introduced that would have dropped references to the federal government’s motivation for removing the holidays. The council has internal rules prohibiting members from assuming and disparaging the intentions behind each other’s actions, and Cathcart had argued that this spirit should be applied to the city’s response to the federal government. Most of those who testified on Monday sharply disagreed, repeatedly calling it immoral to avoid acknowledging what they believed was a clear motivation from the Trump administration.

“The federal action was aimed directly at Black culture, and so our city’s response should be also,” said Kurtis Robinson, a commissioner of the Spokane City Human Rights Commission, who spoke on behalf of the commission. “When we fail to speak out against these federal actions or when we dilute our own response, we risk complicity.”

The resolution passed on a 6-1 vote. Cathcart cast the lone vote against. He argued that the measure’s title, “Resolution recognizing the importance of cultural celebrations, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, as key moments in American history” would marginalize other cultural holidays like Lunar New Year because they aren’t named in the title and said the title was framed as a list.

“I think that keeping this broad title … my hope with this is that we’re discouraging further erosion of these sorts of holidays,” Councilwoman Kitty Klitzke said when the resolution was introduced in December. “We’re specifically calling out these two, but I think it puts it out there that we continue to care about the others as well.”

Several who testified also criticized Councilman Zack Zappone, seemingly in response to an email Gardner wrote in her capacity as NAACP branch president that was republished as a column in The Black Lens, which stated that an unnamed council member had called the resolution “baseless” and that “the community did not ask for this” when the resolution was introduced on Dec. 15.

No council member used those words at the meeting, though the closest appears to be Zappone’s comments suggesting the council should “hear what the community wants” and potentially further broaden the resolution to encompass various cultural concerns in response to the Trump administration.

“Nobody, not one time, used the word baseless,” Cathcart said Monday, noting his own formal support two years ago for recognizing Juneteenth in Spokane. “That is a quote that’s made up out of thin air, and nobody said that the community did not ask for this.”

On Saturday, Gardner stated via text that she had been paraphrasing council commentary from the December committee meeting. 

“The pushback was interpreted as: the resolution was nothing solid (baseless), didn’t included all cultural celebrations, and no community engagement was done to know if it’s what community wants,” Gardner wrote. “No other cultural events were deleted, only MLK & Juneteenth that’s why they’re the focus.”

“I think to me, and (Council President Betsy Wilkerson), MLK and Juneteenth did not require community engagement to reaffirm its importance,” she added.

Other council members defended their colleagues Monday before pivoting to condemning the federal government’s actions.

“We have more challenges to come in the environment we’re in, federally and absolutely locally here in Spokane,” said Council President Betsy Wilkerson. “So we do need to be as united as we possibly can be, working together in tandem for better outcomes for all the people of Spokane.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated Monday to add a comment from Lisa Gardner and to clarify the source of her original comments criticizing some council members.