Quakers Around the Quarter Celebrate Juneteenth
“To be silent is to be complicit – speak out against racism”
This was on a sign held by a young man standing on the grounds of Middletown Friends Meeting in Langhorne. On Friday, June 19, in response to the increased awareness of racial injustice in our country, eight Quaker meetings in the Bucks County area held vigils at their respective meetinghouses to make a show of solidarity with and support for Black Lives Matter and to celebrate Juneteenth, which commemorates the date that the last enslaved people in Texas received word of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Each Quaker meeting decided how they would commemorate the day. Most gathered on their front lawns and displayed signs in support of racial equity and justice; others stood in silent witness along the streets of Newtown. It’s estimated that 200 Friends participated in these vigils.
Bucks Quarterly Meeting – a group of 14 Quaker Meetings from Bucks and Lehigh Counties in PA and Hunterdon County, NJ has a long history of working for peace and social justice in their respective communities. That work and witness is continuing. Newtown Quakers will be holding bi-weekly Black Lives Matter vigils on State Street in Newtown on Friday evenings from 5-6 pm. Southampton Quakers continue to gather in front of their meetinghouse on Street Road on Sundays from 4 – 6 pm for a weekly Vigil for Healing and Social Justice. All are welcome to join in and show their support for a more racially equitable future for everyone.