Exhibits showcasing historic Black milestones and inventions filled a corner of the Nevada Legislative Building. Standing next to her display, Clark County Black Caucus chair Yvette Williams pointed to a colorful toy squirt gun, something most children and even adults are familiar with.
“We start here with Lonnie Johnson. And Lonnie Johnson created the Super Soaker,” Williams explained.
The nonpartisan caucus advocates for policy change that affects the lives of African Americans in Nevada. Williams believes teaching and learning history, the good and the bad, is important. And while she appreciates Black History Month, she wants multicultural education to take place all year long.
“I’ll be happy when we can all value each other and everyone has access to quality education, healthcare, housing, and that we don’t see racial disparity,” Williams said.
At lunchtime, the Las Vegas-based theater group Broadway in the HOOD, which stands for Helping Others Open Doors, put on a passionate performance, roleplaying African American leaders and having the crowd guess who they were.
“My legacy earned me the nickname ‘Mr. Civil Rights,’ ” said Mervin Kenneth Alexander, acting as the first Black Supreme Court justice, Thurgood Marshall. “Who am I? Speak his name!”
The act is called “Freedom Ain’t Free,” explained the founder and artistic director, Torrey Russell.
“All of our freedom that we presently have, somebody worked hard in order to pave that way, in order to make that happen,” Russell said. “We stand on the shoulders, we stand on the backs of all of these legislators, but today we’re celebrating those legislators of color who really helped kick open the doors so that we can have great bills pass.”
Nevada lawmakers also heard a bill to recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday, which was co-sponsored by State Senator Pat Spearman from North Las Vegas. Congress recognized Juneteenth as a federal holiday in 2021, and about half of the country’s state governments have recognized the holiday, which commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S.
“Juneteenth is an opportunity for us to talk in real stark and very historic, and real and factual evidence about the contributions of Black folks here in America,” Spearman said.
Thirteen-year-old Oliver Welsch, son of ACLU of Nevada policy director Lilith Baran, spoke in support of the legislation.
“It’s important to me because I think that there’s a lot of kids in Nevada, a lot of Black kids in Nevada, that are robbed of a source of great cultural pride,” Welsch said.
Welsch missed a day of his eighth-grade class but said he’ll submit a video of his testimony for extra credit.
