Local Juneteenth events stand strong amid federal uncertainty

Despite a federal crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion-focused programs, the Lansing area’s Juneteenth celebrations have been largely unaffected.

Marilyn Rogers, chair of the Lansing Juneteenth Committee, said the Lansing Juneteenth Celebration does not rely on government grants and advised anyone looking to hold a similar event to follow suit.

“As part of our membership with a national organization, I have seen far too many other state celebrations that depended on federal dollars,” she said.

She noted that a similar Juneteenth event in Pittsburgh “was affected because they relied on 80 to 90% of their funding from local and federal governments, so they were not able to do the program they had planned.”

While the Lansing Juneteenth Celebration, founded in 1993, has accepted “local grants that may have been supported by federal dollars” before, Rogers said, it long ago broke free of reliance on grant money.

Michael “Mikeyy” Austin, a co-organizer of 517 Juneteenth Weekend in REO Town, said the event has been unaffected for the same reason.

“We don’t receive federal funding or much funding from local governments, either,” he said. “A lot of it comes from private donors and sponsorships.”

Austin said he does not foresee the second Trump administration having “any impact at all” on the event.

Amber Clark, Meridian Township’s neighborhoods and economic development director, said the township’s Juneteenth celebration has been mostly unaffected, but it has lost grant opportunities.

“Our economic development corporation is the lead sponsor and organizing entity. We have combined multiple community events to celebrate Juneteenth, Pride month and more as a full package, and that’s how it’s funded,” she said.

While the celebration does not depend on grants, Clark said she was informed by the Michigan Humanities Council that two federal grants the department typically applied for to support the celebration had been terminated.

Despite local programs’ resilience, Rogers noted that other Trump administration initiatives may have an impact. The loss of federal funding for public broadcasting has affected outreach, she said.

“WKAR was totally affected,” she said. “From my understanding, they’re hanging on by just teeth and nails without federal funding. Those sources allowed us outreach to the part of the community that depends on their news.”

In an April 28 interview with WKAR reporter Sophia Saliby, general manager Shawn Turner said federal funding makes up about 16% of WKAR’s total budget and that local programming would be hit hardest by funding cuts. Days later, Trump signed an executive order slashing federal funding for PBS and NPR.

Rogers also expressed that, while Michigan State University has responded “quite well” to the new administration, the University of Michigan is “struggling.”

“Their diversity and inclusion office was just shut down,” she said. “Folks lost their jobs, and I’m hearing firsthand that some of the employees who would ordinarily be working on Juneteenth celebrations or recognition are gone.”

Florensio Hernandez, outreach and engagement manager for MSU’s Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, said the school’s Juneteenth celebration falls under his purview and has not been impacted to his knowledge.

While university staff are regularly working with legal counsel to ensure programming is “within the parameters of the law,” he said Juneteenth programming has been unaffected because it is open to all and focused on building togetherness across different groups.

The Trump administration has prohibited DEI programs on the grounds that they are illegally discriminatory in favor of minority groups. Hernandez said MSU’s Juneteenth programming has no such impact.

“All of our programming is open to all,” he said. “These programs have always been about all of us and the togetherness of the community, the rich differences we all have, but also the things we have in common that we don’t realize.”

Hernandez was careful to note that he spoke on his own behalf as a local DEI specialist, not that of his office or MSU. He also serves on Mayor Andy Schor’s DEI Advisory Board.

A representative from U of M’s Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives confirmed Tuesday that the office would not be holding its regular Juneteenth symposium this year. She declined to explain this decision but said that a public event will be held at the University of Michigan Detroit Center instead.

While Rogers said it’s still too early to say what the second Trump administration’s impact on local Juneteenth celebrations will be, the city has been “wholeheartedly” supportive, and she expects that to continue. She said the Lansing Juneteenth Celebration got by just fine during Trump’s first term, despite opposition to “minority or diversity programming.”

“All our supporters are faithful and true, and they continued to support us,” she said. “So, it really did not affect us that much.”