Dear Cayuga Centers’ Friends and Families —
When I first wrote about the brutal murder of George Floyd, I said that we need to do more than just issue statements or take symbolic actions. We need to work for real and lasting institutional change. As I am sure many of you are doing, we at Cayuga Centers are examining what we should be doing.
As a starting point, we plan to continue expanding the diversity education we have been doing over the last year. We will also examine changes we should be making that will help strengthen how we operate.
I am ready to announce one change today.
This Friday is Juneteenth: the anniversary of the emancipation of the last slaves held legally in the USA. I had never known about Juneteenth until I came to Auburn and was pleased when I arrived to learn about it and to find it is celebrated. Perhaps this is attributable to Harriet Tubman who lived in Auburn after her escape from slavery until her death. Indeed, her grave is in the same cemetery where the orphans who died while in our orphanage are buried.
To take positive action — effective immediately this Friday, June 19, will be an agency holiday. As will every Juneteenth thereafter.
I hope that this will help those who already know about, and recognize the significance of this date, to commemorate it fully. And for those of you who want to find out more, I hope this will encourage you to research and understand the importance of this time in our history, and the lessons we can learn from the past.
Just as Juneteenth was only one step in the struggle for African-American equality, whatever progress comes from our present turmoil will also be another step along the way. But I hope that we will soon find ourselves closer to a nation that respects, values and treats equally all its citizens, and elevates those communities which have for so long been dispossessed and demeaned.
Our plan is that the Juneteenth holiday will replace our existing agency holiday in October, known as Columbus Day. Columbus Day has been seen as increasingly problematic in recent years, with indigenous communities particularly speaking out against the association with a figure whose actions were so calamitous to the first people on this continent. As someone of Italian heritage (my mother’s name was De Fazio, and my four maternal great-grandparents all immigrated to New York City from Italy), I know that this day has been important for Italian-Americans since it became a national holiday in the 1930s. We do not intend to diminish that. But perspectives shift, and perhaps now we need to look at our history in a new light. We will also be discussing with the Union how to reflect the holiday change at a contractual level.
Stay safe,
Ed
President and CEO
