Rep. Booker hosts Juneteenth rally in Lexington

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — Some of those who have gathered for more than 20 nights now to protest racial injustice in Lexington gathered Saturday for a Juneteenth rally.

It was one of many we’re seeing this weekend all across central Kentucky.

The Juneteeth rally was held at the Fifth-Third Pavillion in Cheapside Park and started at 6 pm.

State Representative Charles Booker hosted the rally.

Dozens of people were in attendance.

On Facebook, the event had over two hundred people respond that they were going.

Juneteenth is gaining national attention this year but many African-Americans have celebrated for years.

It marks the day June 19, 1865 when union soldiers arrived on the island of Galveston, Texas and from a balcony told slaves that the civil war was over and that slaves were free.

The soldiers arrived two and a half years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery in the confederate states.

Rally goers were asked to social distance and wear masks.

The rally is a part of the Senate candidate’s campaign bus tour.

Rep. Booker held similar rallies in Louisville and northern Kentucky earlier Saturday.

One rally goer we talked with tells us what Juneteenth means to her.

The rally went until 7 pm but protesters staying downtown for a 23rd straight night of protests.