ThirdSpace Action Lab is a Cleveland-based “grassroots research, strategy, and design cooperative dedicated to prototyping creative, place-based solutions to actualize racial equity.” Their mission is to “create liberated ‘third places’ for people of color.”

Located on the first floor of the Madison building at 1464 E. 105th St. in Glenville, ThirdSpace is offering “Black is Joy,” a series of events related to Juneteenth.

Signal Cleveland talked to Evelyn Burnett (co-founder and CEO), Mordecai Cargill (co-founder and creative director) and Sean Clark (director of marketing) to get their thoughts on the holiday. The interview has been edited for brevity.

Q: Are we able to relax and celebrate our freedom?

Cargill: Definitely not. There is an ongoing conversation in the United States about who belongs, and, furthermore, history is very much under attack because of the legacy of structural racism, the history of slavery and how we as Americans define citizenship in racialized terms. The Juneteenth holiday is kind of like an annual pause point to really reflect on how much further we have to go in order to realize the promise of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence for all American citizens.

Q: So what should people do on Juneteenth? Something education-related? Or is it OK to have a barbecue?

Burnett: I think that you should do, really, whatever you want to do. It’s like Martin Luther King Day. There’s been this debate for decades about, is it a day on? Is it a day off? Is it a day of service? Who should be doing the service? Should Black folks just get to rest? I think like any holiday, there should be some educational component. It is so important that we should commemorate and understand, but I think we should also celebrate.

Q: What do you most want people to take away from your Juneteenth event?

Cargill: We are trying to bring our community together to practice what it’s like to be safe and happy and to just marvel at the most beautiful image of ourselves as we should always be together. I feel like Black people have to choose each other. When we think about the future of Black neighborhoods, when we think about these important Black institutions, we have to opt in to the responsibility to take care of it. And it starts with us building community amongst ourselves.

Clark: A lot of it, for me, is preservation. If [in the future] it just becomes a normal day, then we want people to look at what we have captured here and say, ‘Oh, this is what it’s meant to be.’ There was a barbecue, yes, but there was also enrichment. There was also this book that came out. So I see it as this sepia-toned photo that shows ThirdSpace Action Lab was monumental in creating something in Cleveland for Juneteenth.