Guadalupe Police Chief and Director of Public Safety Michael Cash will be recognized as the first and only African American police chief in Santa Barbara County during this year’s Santa Maria-Lompoc NAACP and Collective Cultures Creating Change’s Juneteenth celebration.
“I’m very honored and humbled to be even thought of in that sense. I’m very much aware of the circumstances of me being the only African American chief on the force here, but it’s one of those things where I’m proud of that fact,” Cash told the Sun.
Cash is the keynote speaker during the Juneteenth celebration, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, on June 15. He said he’ll talk about community policing, law enforcement, and how they affect communities of color.
“I think I am apolitical, but I see where we as a country need to reconnect more and really look at valuing differences. It’s imperative for us to be successful not only as individuals or as cities, but as a nation to really support and bring together all our differences to see how strong we are,” Cash said.
Cash began his 42-year law enforcement career as a county marshal in San Diego and later became a San Diego Police officer. Working his way through the ranks to captain, he was recruited to be the director of security for the former NFL team the San Diego Chargers and later became the emergency preparedness manager at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
He then went back to San Diego for a college police chief position and was ready to finish his law enforcement career when he found the position in Guadalupe, which he’s kept for the last six years.
“I feel I have a unique perspective coming from such a large city to coming here and policing. You really appreciate the closeness and the down-home and the hands-on [aspects] of working in a small town,” Cash said. “It’s harder in a small town than a big city because your service, you see it firsthand, all the effects that you do from the youngest to the oldest.”
Alongside Cash’s speech at the upcoming event, residents can enjoy food vendors, live music, poetry readings, dancing, drumming, arts and crafts, face painting, and a bake-off competition, said Lawanda Lyons-Pruitt, the president of the Santa Maria-Lompoc NAACP. Santa Maria-Bonita School District Superintendent Dr. Darren McDuffie will reenact “Drum Major Instinct,” a speech Dr. Martin Luther King gave two months before his assassination, and a Santa Barbara County elementary school teacher will read a book that celebrates diversity.
“It makes me feel good when the public comes out and it’s a diverse public and they just sit there and enjoy everything,” Lyons-Pruitt said. “It’s a show that we’re celebrating history and honoring the past, celebrating our history, our ancestors.”
According to the NAACP, the first Juneteenth celebration occurred on June 19, 1866, in Texas, one year after news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached the state. Originally celebrated with prayer meetings, songs, and wearing new clothes to represent newfound freedom, the celebration proliferated throughout the United States as families moved from Texas to other parts of the country.
In 2021, President Joe Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday, and Gov. Gavin Newsom followed suit in 2022 by making it a state holiday.
This will be the Santa Maria-Lompoc NAACP’s sixth year bringing Juneteenth celebrations to the community. Other organizations hosted an event in Santa Maria, before the NAACP’s involvement, but have since stopped.
“It’s important and something that we needed to do,” Lyons-Pruitt said of reviving the celebrations. “We are all human beings, we just have different customs and culture, and we just want to educate you and have you learn about our history.”
The free and all-ages Juneteenth celebration begins at 11 a.m. on June 15 in Old Town Lompoc, 100 block of South H St., and ends at 5 p.m. Call (805) 448-7869 for more information.
Highlights
• The Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department invites the public to explore the new Summer Recreation Guide, which features an array of fun activities suitable for every age group, such as art classes, fitness programs, sports, free community events, outdoor excursions, and the Concerts in the Park series. While most programs and events are offered at low or no cost, financial assistance for registration fees may be available for qualifying individuals and families through the Recreation and Parks Department’s partnership with People for Leisure and Youth Inc. Visit cityofsantamaria.org to get a copy of the Summer Recreation Guide, and direct questions to (805) 925-0951, Ext. 2260.
• The Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce recently announced Michael Boyer as its new president and chief executive officer. He previously served at the SLO County Chamber of Commerce, the SLO County YMCA, Lumina Alliance, and the Arroyo Grande Community Hospital Foundation. He is also a founding director of the Diversity Coalition San Luis Obispo County and previously served as a board member to the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Reach Staff Writer Taylor O’Connor at toconnor@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 13-23, 2024.