Local

The community celebrated Juneteenth this past Saturday with the city's inaugural Juneteenth parade.

Juneteenth commemorates the day that the last enslaved people in the United States became free, which was two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

People gathered to celebrate with a parade from Eunice City Hall to Central Middle School and ended with a program at Word Ministries.

Robert Raymond, a member of the Roman Kings social group who hosted the parade, said the goal was to celebrate their history and inspire the community's youth.

"I feel like as black people, we are one. We're as strong as the weakest link, so what that means is we need to come together," Raymond said. "If we want to stop the killing, we want to stop the violence, whatever we feel is wrong, it's all up to us. If we can't do it as one, it will never happen. Change starts within us."

The organization plans to host the Juneteenth parade annually and will continue hosting other events to give back to the community.