RAHWAY, NJ — Back in June, the City of Rahway and the Rahway Social Justice Commission (RSJC) held a moving and meaningful celebration, officially acknowledging Juneteenth National Independence Day.
Juneteenth, established as a state holiday in 2020 and a federal one in 2021, celebrates June 19, 1865, the date on which a group of enslaved people in Galveston, Texas received the news that the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued, the Civil War had ended, and they were, therefore, according to the federal government, free. This came over two months after the end of the Civil War and two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
In Rahway, the event took place outside the Rahway Recreation Center. Karla Alvarez, the chair of the RSJC, served as mistress of ceremonies.
Along with Alvarez, speakers for the afternoon included Vice President of the Rahway City Council and RSJC member Councilman Jeffrey Brooks; RSJC Vice Chair Vanessa Carillo; keynote speaker David Julius Ford Jr., a counselor, professor, and scholar; and local poet and essayist Marc Polite, who performed an original piece entitled “Let Me Tell You About My People.”
The celebration also included a Juneteenth flag raising and a wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate the 29 African American Civil War veterans buried in Rahway Cemetery.
Additionally, five 2025 graduates of Rahway High School were awarded scholarships by the RSJC for “their remarkable perseverance, resilience, emotional growth, and dedication during the senior year of their high school journey.”
Alvarez and RSJC member William Cooper presented the $1000 scholarships to:
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Jorge Fernandez
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Imani Smith
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Israel Medina Balthazar
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Joshua Assad Marshall
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Nicholas Navarro
Vendors and organizations in attendance or supporting the Juneteenth celebration included the NAACP-Rahway Branch, Reworld, the Rahway Health Department, the United Way, Kreative with a Purpose, the Urban League of Union County, the Brothers and Sisters of the Community, the Jamal Gaines Foundation, Oak Street Health, the Rahway Social Justice Commission, and the ILove2Read Book and Literacy Organization.
Alvarez concluded the afternoon by thanking the participants, guests, staff members, volunteers, DJ, and all the volunteers who helped make the event a success.
The 2025 Rahway Juneteenth celebration was one, Alvarez noted, in which “we intentionally honored and acknowledged the past, celebrated the present, and looked forward to an amazing future.”