Protesters hold signs on the Portage Lake Lift Bridge Friday in a march protesting racial injustice and commemorating Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas in 1865.

HOUGHTON — Holding signs like “Stop Killing Black People” and “Silence is Violence,” about 40 people marched across the Portage Lake Lift Bridge Friday to protest racial injustice and commemorate Juneteenth.

“There’s a quote that ‘We don’t want it to be a moment, it’s a movement,'” said Tania Levy, who has helped organize three marches so far. “So I think that’s important to keep showing up and showing the community that we care. And that, you know, we’re gonna continue to show up until things change.”

Juneteenth celebrates June 19, 1865, the day former slaves in Galveston, Texas finally learned of the Emancipation Proclamation following the Confederacy’s surrender. That order from President Lincoln freed only the slaves in Confederate territory, including Texas: a nationwide abolishment of slavery did not come until the passage of the 13th Amendment later in 1865.

First held primarily in Texas, Juneteenth is now recognized in 47 states, including Michigan.

“It’s important to recognize Juneteenth, and celebrate the advances that we have made, but not forgetting history,” Levy said.

This year’s celebrations have received broader awareness in the wake of protests against racism and police brutality touched off by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month by a police officer.

Gavrielle Cote of Marquette was motivated to march by the oppression she and other Black people have faced. When she was 6, she had to ask her mom what the n-word meant after kids called her that at school. On the school bus, she said, students would shout slurs at her and throw peanuts to trigger her allergy.

“I’m not going to stand for this anymore,” said Cote, now 14. “I don’t want to live in a world where my little sister has to grow up being afraid of her being called out because of her skin color. This isn’t okay. This is the biggest civil rights movement in the history of the world. People need to start listening.”

Cote hopes the protests continue to draw attention and help bring an end to police brutality. She wants to see wide reforms to a system she sees as flawed.

“It’s not every police officer that you know, but it’s the police system as a whole, the judicial system as a whole,” she said. “When people say things like ‘All cops are bastards’ or ‘Defund the police,’ they’re not saying ‘We want the police gone.’ They’re saying ‘We want the police to change.'”

Michael Lentini of Houghton said he wanted to see longer training programs required to become a police officer, comparable to those in other countries. He also supports diverting funding to other forms of initial response, such as social workers.

“We can say, ‘Here’s a problem,’ and maybe it’s a community organizer who could come up,” he said.

Levy is heartened by changes that have already been set in motion, such as reductions in police spending in cities in Los Angeles. But it’s important to recognize that demonstrators want more.

“I think what the changes that have been happening show is that we can actually defund the police, we can redistribute these funds, if we continue to show up and vote, and call our representatives and make our demands known,” she said.

Having a march on Juneteenth was important to Cote. There’s been a lot of progress since then — in starts, stops, and sometimes reversals. She hopes the momentum of the past month can keep rolling.

“The world is propelling rapidly into change,” she said. “So many videos are coming out. So many people are getting fired. So many people are putting their voices out there, you know?

We’re making a difference.”