Union construction workers across Greater Boston marked Juneteeth with an 8-minute, 46-second moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. this morning.

The event was just one of the rallies, marches and vigils taking place across Massachusetts on Friday to mark Juneteenth, the traditional commemoration date of the emancipation of enslaved African Americans, which has taken on new gravity this year.

The morning stand-down was conducted in honor of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, two African Americans killed by police in recent weeks, and Ahmaud Arbery, an African American jogger shot to death while jogging in a white neighborhood by two men with ties to local law enforcement.

The event, organized by the Greater Boston Labor Council, comes as the group promises to “use our collective power to make sure black and brown people can breathe and thrive” and “have hard conversations with each other to push for greater understanding, healing and unity.”

Elsewhere in the area, labor union groups will lead an automobile caravan from Boston’s Dorchester Municipal Court to a neighborhood playground as part of the nationwide Drive to Justice campaign, which seeks changes in policing and other measures after George Floyd’s killing by police in Minneapolis.

Black Lives Matter organizers then plan to stage an afternoon rally in a Dorchester park to call for an end to “mass incarceration and over-policing” of communities of color. They’re asking attendees to wear green, red or black clothing in a show of support.

That event will be followed a few hours later by a “musical speakout” against police brutality and racism at another Dorchester park. Organizers with Mass Action Against Police Brutality say “ Funk the Police — Juneteenth Edition ” will spotlight families that have lost loved ones to police violence. It will also raise money to send a Boston delegation to the National Mother’s March in Minneapolis on July 12.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh says the green, red and black Juneteenth flag will also fly over City Hall.

Other Juneteenth marches are planned in Newton and Brookline, as well as in Brockton.