Hawaii for Juneteenth

Meet the founder

Samantha Neyland

Samantha Neyland is Miss Hawaii Teen USA 2013 and Miss Hawaii USA 2020. In the wake of the George Floyd protests, Samantha felt a responsibility, as the first African American woman to represent Hawaii on the Miss Teen USA and Miss USA stages, to bring anti-racism education to Hawaii. She founded Hawaii for Juneteenth as a grassroots campaign and spent a year successfully growing a coalition of community partners, comprised of elected officials, civil-rights activists and nonprofits, including: the Anti-Defamation League, ACLU, the Democratic Party of Hawai’i, the Honolulu NAACP, the African Americans on Maui Association, The University of Hawaii as well as the majority of Maui, Hawaiʻi, Kauaʻi and Honolulu County Council members.

Meet The Team

Ty Trumbo

Dr. Danny de Gracia

As a founding member of Hawaii for Juneteenth, Ty Trumbo draws from his experience as a seasoned lobbyist and grassroots organizer to craft and execute coalition strategy. He has represented the interests of nonprofits in State Legislatures across the country, including California, New Jersey and Arizona where he spearheaded Legislative campaigns on issues ranging from public safety to child literacy. He is a proud graduate of Emory University where he competed in Varsity Track & Field.

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Danny de Gracia partners with Hawaii for Juneteenth

Dr. Danny de Gracia

Dr. Danny de Gracia is a Honolulu Civil Beat Columnist and former senior staffer to the House Standing Committee on Human Services (2005-2006) and the House Standing Committee on International Affairs (2007-2008) at the Hawaii State Legislature. From 2011 to 2013, he served as an elected Honolulu municipal board member. Danny has provided

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Senator Wakai introduces Senate bill to recognize Juneteenth Successfully passes bill into law.

Senator Glenn Wakai

Representative John Mizuno

Senator Glenn Wakai is in his second term as a Hawaii State Senator, following eight years in the State House of Representatives. He is the current chair of the Senate's Committee on Economic Development, Tourism, and Technology, vice chair of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, and is a member of the

Senator Wakai is the lead sponsor of Senate Bill 939 which has successfully passed the Hawaii State Legislature and is now awaiting a final signature from the Governor.

SB 939 will establish June 19th as Juneteenth in Hawaii.

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John Mizuno introduces House Bill in support of Hawaii for Juneteenth

Representative John Mizuno

Representative John Mizuno is the Vice Speaker of the Hawaii House of Representatives. Since his election to the Hawaii House in 2006 Representative Mizuno's goal has been to bring the residents of District 30 together to create a community that is safe where families can achieve prosperity and security, and where children can thrive and

Representative Mizuno is the lead sponsor of HB 1308, the companion bill to SB 939.

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How We Made History

We set out to achieve recognition for an often forgotten piece of History. We believe officially recognizing Juneteenth as a Day of Remembrance in Hawaii will better educate Hawaii’s diverse communities on the history or race relations in America, how it influences our society today, as well as send a message of solidarity to not only the African American community but all minority communities, that all are welcome and celebrated in the Aloha State.

We started our effort by reaching out to local elected officials. We saw the Honolulu City Council had just passed a resolution, recognizing Juneteenth in the City and County of Honolulu. We knew this would help us to encourage other counties to follow suit and we were right. We led Maui County to the unanimous vote that passed Resolution 20- 115 recognizing Juneteenth in the County of Maui.

This resolution brought media attention to our work which allowed us to bring in bigger coalition partners like the ACLU and the Anti-Defamation League.

As the coalition continued to build, we decided the time was right to find a legislative partner. With the historical significance front and center, we garnered interest from two prominent legislators: Senator Glenn Wakai and Representative John Mizuno.

SB 939 and HB 1308 were introduced in January 2021 to the Senate and House respectively.

While our Senate Bill picked up steam, HB 1308 died in the early stages due to lack of prompt scheduling by the House Judiciary Committee. After this unexpected setback, we made sure to enlist the support of our community every step of the way.

With the help of our partners and large number of coalition supporters, SB 939 passed two committees in the Hawaii State Senate before it was passed by the full senate and transferred over to the House where it received a triple committee referral. SB 939 unanimously passed all three committees but was amended by the final committee to read: THIS ACT SHALL TAKE EFFECT ON 2050.

Reusing to wait 30 years for Juneteenth to be recognized, we requested the Bill Sponsor, Senator Wakai, to suggest a new amendment, “THIS ACT SHALL TAKE EFFECT UPON APPROVAL.”

Senator Wakai, assigned to the Senate Conference Committee for SB 939, introduced the new amendment. The Bill was then voted on once again by a House Committee before reaching a full floor vote on Tuesday, April 27th. SB 939 passed the Hawaii State Legislature unanimously and without any reservations.

Currently, we are waiting on an official signing ceremony with the Governor where the bill will finally become a law.