The 2nd Annual Juneteenth Celebration at Raymond James Stadium was a huge success! Bolaji Ajike out of St. Petersburg and RJ Stebenson out of Tampa, bridged the Bay Area Divide to bring our communities together in the celebration of Juneteenth.
Juneteenth, which is actually June 19th, is the day the last slaves were freed in the state of Texas, years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed and issued The Emancipation Proclamation which says, “All persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” However the slaves were not informed and were continuously held and abused, in order to guarantee it, Lincoln pushed Congress to get an Amendment to the Constitution which was passed by Congress on January 31st 1865 and ratified on December 6th 1865. It is the 13th Amendment. The words of the amendment that most people are familiar with are: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
Bolaji Ajike is Nigerian born and raised but educated in the United States. RJ Stevenson is from North Carolina, a preacher's kid, father of two and a member of Kappa Alpha Psi. They both launched their podcast (Goddess Talk & Sunday Morning Power Hour) on N-TOUCH Radio, where they met and began to collaborate on smaller projects until they decided to join forces and create ROC the BLOC Entertainment. Here is what they had to say about the event.