Juneteenth organizers respond to alleged spitting incident during Freedom Walk

SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO) – Wednesday, June 19th is Juneteenth – a national holiday that celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. This past weekend, Sioux Falls hosted its Juneteenth Festival, but an incident early Saturday morning attempted to spoil the excitement of the day.

Juneteenth celebrations in Sioux Falls began Saturday morning with a freedom march led by Grand Marshal Chet Jones. It was then that an unfortunate incident occurred.

“An individual was riding a bicycle right in front of the crowd and, what we believe, he was trying to intimidate the crowd,” said Julian Beaudion, president of Juneteenth Sioux Falls. “He didn’t shout any racial slurs or anything, but he was definitely yelling and screaming and swearing. And then, at one point, he spat in the direction of the crowd. He spat in particular against our grand marshal.

Beaudion says an incident like this can bring back past trauma for the black community.

“During the civil rights era, a lot of black people were fighting for freedom, but they couldn't sit in the front of the bus,” Beaudion said. “They were not able to cross a bridge on foot without having dogs and water hoses attached to them. They couldn't sit at a lunch counter without being spat on. So it's caused so much trauma and Chet is in a position right now where he doesn't even want to talk about it.

However, organizers and festival-goers were not going to let this incident spoil their day of celebrating freedom.

“Our ancestors worked too hard for us to get to where we are today,” Beaudion said. “They continued to cross the bridges I mentioned earlier when fire hoses and dogs were thrown at them. We will continue walking today.

Beaudion says Sioux Falls police are aware of the spitting incident, but no official report has been made yet. For this reason, police say they cannot speculate on what the crime would be if someone was arrested.

However, according to the codified laws of South Dakota, intentionally spitting on another person is a class one misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison or a fine of two thousand dollars.