Dallas, TX
‘Juneteenth freed the people’: Opal Lee leads hundreds on freedom walk through Dallas
Opal Lee walked outside and waved. That was all it took. Crowds clamored for a glimpse. People shouted her name and snapped photographs as television crews aimed their cameras at her.
Wearing sunglasses, a blue T-shirt and red tennis shoes, Lee led hundreds Wednesday on her annual Opal’s Walk for Freedom, a 2.5-mile trek to celebrate Juneteenth.
This year’s walk moved from Lee’s hometown of Fort Worth to Dallas, but the 97-year-old “grandmother of Juneteenth” drew the same big crowds and adoration. Supporters wore T-shirts and carried signs bearing her image, and many clapped and waved as she walked by.
Juneteenth recognizes the day in 1865 when Union troops arrived in Galveston to inform enslaved people of their freedom, about 2½ years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
“July 4 freed the land,” Lee said before the walk. “But Juneteenth freed the people.”
Black Americans, especially in Texas, have celebrated the day for decades, but interest in the holiday skyrocketed in recent years. In 2016, Lee made her way from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., walking 2½ miles in several cities along the way to represent the 2½ years it took for news of emancipation to reach Galveston. In 2021, President Joe Biden, with Lee at his side, signed into law a bill declaring Juneteenth a national holiday.
Growing up, Tiffany Weaver, 45, said she celebrated the holiday with friends and family eating barbecue and playing outside. This year she joined Lee’s walk, which began at the African American Museum in Dallas’ Fair Park.
Weaver, who lives in Dallas, said she loves that Juneteenth is now celebrated on a larger scale.
“We weren’t free until we were all free,” she said. “This has been a long time coming.”
Stanton Brown, 32, of McKinney, who brought his infant and 4-year-old daughters to the walk, said he long knew about Juneteenth but only began celebrating the day in recent years.
“Freedom is really a mindset,” Brown said. “I want to honor the people who came before me and fought for freedom. I’m here because of them.”
As they walked, marchers clasped hands and some sang “This Little Light of Mine.” Parents pushed young children in strollers or carried them on shoulders, and Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders walked alongside marching band drummers and members of a Girl Scouts troop.
Traditional African dancers and drummers lined the route and walked next to Lee, flanked by Fort Worth’s Miss Juneteenth and a cluster of police officers.
Many fanned themselves from the heat, which hovered in the 80s for most of the walk, cooler than in past years.
Lee, who grew up in Texas, has recalled celebrating Juneteenth by picnicking with her family, first in Marshall and later in Fort Worth. In 1939, when she was 12, a mob of white supremacists set fire to her family’s home in Fort Worth and destroyed it. Lee and her family were forced to flee. The event shaped her life as an educator and activist.
Lee received a new home this month, courtesy of the community, on the same lot.
This year’s walk moved to Dallas to highlight the role Juneteenth has on other U.S. cities, Lee’s granddaughter, Dione Sims said. Cities around the world planned their own walks, including Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City and Tokyo. Next year, the march will return to Fort Worth before heading to Washington, D.C., in 2026.
On Wednesday, Lee, who rode in a golf cart for part of the walk, said her work is far from over, and she urged supporters to tackle homelessness and climate change.
“If people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love,” she said. “We are all our brother’s keeper. It behooves us to act like it.”
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How can The Dallas Morning News better report on issues facing North Texas’ Asian American community?
About a dozen reporters, editors, photographers and other staff members of The News hosted a listening session Saturday morning at the busy Cali Saigon Mall in Garland. The team met with members of the Asian American community to better understand what they want to see from news coverage, find ways to bridge the gaps and make staff members more accessible.
At a series of tables in the middle of the mall’s food court, roughly 40 people chatted with The News and expressed the gaps they see in news coverage and how the newspaper can work to bridge these gaps.
The Cali Saigon Mall, located at 3212 N Jupiter Road, often hosts local Asian American events, many attendees said.
Jennifer Nguyen, a founder of Garland’s Vietnamese-American Activity Center and whose family owns the mall, said the space hosts a number of Asian restaurants and shops. The mall often serves as a place for the local Asian American community to come together, she said, as it is a place where people can see their heritage reflected in the Dallas area.
When The News reached out to her about having the listening session there, she said she saw a great opportunity to bring the community together and get the ball rolling on bridge-building.
“We will do whatever it takes to bring The Dallas Morning News closer to the Asian American community,” she said.
Nguyen said she wished The News covered more issues facing the Asian American community, such as mental health struggles.
Nguyen said she feels the lack of Asian American representation in The News‘ coverage is an issue both sides can work to address. She said if members of the Asian American community wish to see more coverage, they should reach out to The News or its reporters to request coverage.
Dr. Maria Borrinaga, who came to the event, said it is not always clear who to reach out to for story tips, and sometimes, there isn’t a follow-up when something is submitted. (For reference, anyone with a story idea can reach out directly to a reporter via email, or submit a tip through The News‘ website.)
“We do have a lot of activities, but since we don’t have that platform to advertise it and really reach out to certain communities, that’s where the gap is,” Borrinaga said.
Among issues with The News‘ coverage of the Asian American community is a lack of positive stories about cultural events in the community, said Preeya Kalayaboon. She said she and her husband are directors of the Miss Asia America International Pageant, and while the pageant has been going on for about a decade, it and other cultural events are not always covered in The News.
Journalists said members of the Asian American community expressed during their table talks that they wished for The News to share their voice with the government about issues facing their communities, such as property taxes and more jobs. They also spoke of wishing for news coverage to be proactive instead of reactive, in addition to seeing stories that promote the vibrant cultural identity of the many Asian heritages in North Texas.
Dee Doai, president of the Vietnamese American Community of Greater Dallas, said she felt the event was productive, as it provided a platform for members of the Asian American community and representatives of different organizations to meet one another, as well as The News’ staff.
Doai said the most productive part of the meeting was getting to meet a lot of people face-to-face and having open dialogues, but the loud volume at the Cali Saigon Mall’s food court sometimes made it difficult to hear.
“You have a chance to meet a lot of new faces and reach out to your organizations,” she said.
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