CWA’s Annual Juneteenth Celebration

On Sunday, CWA premiered our annual Juneteenth Celebration on Facebook. This year’s event, “Stronger Together: Uplifting the Black Family,” featured union leaders, organizers, and activists at the forefront of transformational movements within their workplaces and communities. IUE-CWA President and CWA National Executive Board Diversity Committee Co-Chair Carl Kennebrew shared a heartwarming story during his remarks at the beginning of the program about how his grandmother’s activism inspired him to get involved from a young age and how he hopes all parents continue to influence younger generations to become activists. “When raising children, it is our responsibility to create a better world for them. We may believe that our children aren’t watching us, but they are. They hear us discussing rights on the job, politics, or fair wages at the dinner table. They see us marching in the streets with signs that read Black Lives Matter and Workers Rights are Human Rights. They are listening, they are watching, and most importantly they are learning,” said Kennebrew.

CWA Local 6215 member Scott Spencer from AT&T Mobility in Plano, Texas; Lakeisha Preston, a Maximus worker organizing with CWA in Hattiesburg, Miss.; Sydney Rhodes, an Apple Store worker in Atlanta, Ga.; Linda Burns, an Amazon Warehouse worker in Bessemer, Ala.; and Laila Dalton, a Starbucks worker in Scottsdale, Ariz., shared powerful stories about their experiences advocating for workers rights and racial justice as Black workers. Watch the full event here.

To learn more about Juneteenth, check out the CWA District 3 Human Rights Committee’s five-part series on the history and significance of the holiday.

CWA Local 1168 and 1133 members celebrated the holiday by participating in the 47th annual Juneteenth parade in Buffalo, N.Y.