Thousands of Seattleites celebrated Juneteenth and lifted up community at events and festivals Thursday, even as national leaders attack diversity initiatives and Black history.

“This is about remembering,” said Selton Williams, president of the 9th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers of Austin. “If you forget your history, you’re doomed to make the same mistakes over.” Williams emphasized the importance of honoring both the pain of the past and the joy of emancipation: “Juneteenth is about the proudness and the expression of joy.”

It may be that trying to undo a national holiday, particularly one as publicly embraced as Juneteenth, would be a harder sell than eliminating an office tucked inside a federal agency.