While 47 states celebrate Juneteenth Day, Senators Booker and Kamala Harris introduce a bill to make it a federal holiday. Agree/Disagree????
16
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Not a good idea, unless it is swapped for MLK or Columbus Day. And bad timing; the nation is already insanely polarized. Why not add in slavery reparations while you're at it? What do we give up to get it? Another 4 years of Trump? The country itself?
We need to figure out how to dial back, and this ain't it. This is pandering that Trump would be proud to own.
racocn8
Level 9
June 20, 2020
0
Why would we need to swap out another holiday for it?
@Sacrilege We wouldn't have to swap out another holiday, but how many holidays are we going to have? Plus, Juneteenth is only two weeks away from July 4. That seems too close unless we do away with July 4th. Under the circumstances (selling out the country to Russia), that would be appropriate. And when do we get 6 weeks of vacation like they get in Europe?
It's OK with me. I would also like to get rid of Columbus Day.
Fit50something
Level 7
June 19, 2020
5
Agree. It should be a holiday. Slavery was a shameful thing, and its end should be celebrated. 
BestWithoutGods
Level 8
June 19, 2020
5
You mean celebrate one of the few times the Federal Government correctly used its power to do the right thing and enforce the law that the South was disobeying and protected the rights of its citizen?
Yes, having a federal holiday celebrating Juneteenth actually makes sense. There is a connection, a bond, a trust created between the Federal Government and the people who were treated a slaves. Celebrating that can only strengthen that bond, and remind the federal government of its obligation.
MakeItGood
Level 7
June 20, 2020
6
Given the historosity of Juneteenth plus the fact that we were not taught of it's existence, I think it's appropriate to celebrate several million people being brought out of slavery. WASP's have sterilized written history in this country and that needs to be corrected. If there can be a day for the butcher Columbus, surely Juneteenth could replace it.
JohnKennerson
Level 3
June 19, 2020
5
I think having Election Day as a holiday is not needed in today’s world. Most states have early voting. Extending it to all states as well as mail in voting would make having one day set aside for voting obsolete.
Yes Juneteenth or the date of the Emancipation Proclamation should be a holiday.
Sierra4
Level 8
June 19, 2020
3
What is the reason for the celebration?
Jolanta
Level 9
June 19, 2020
3
It was the date that Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas to announce that the war had ended and the slaves were free two years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Texas was part of the Confederacy, but not many battles occurred here and of course news traveled slowly then.
Juneteenth was mainly celebrated here in Texas for many decades It is more wide spread now.
"Though many attribute the end of slavery to President Abraham Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, the truth is that not every slave — especially those who lived in the Confederacy — was made entirely free by the decree.
"Numerous Confederate loyalists refused to obey Lincoln’s executive order and continued to hold out, even well after General Robert E. Lee surrendered to the Union Army at Appomattox Court in Virginia in April 1865.
"According to African American history scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., slaveowners who had previously lived in Mississippi, Louisiana and other states decided to escape the Union’s reach by moving to Texas. In choosing to do so, they moved nearly 150,000 slaves, many of whom were unaware of Lincoln’s order. A number of slave masters, who had been aware of the proclamation, purposely chose to delay the news in an effort to maintain control, while others — including the Confederate mayor of Galveston — defied Lincoln’s proclamation by forcing free slaves back to work.
"As Gates notes, the few slaves who eventually learned of their freedom acted on it at their own risks. Many were reportedly shot during their attempt to cross the Sabine River, which runs through Texas and Louisiana.
" It wasn’t until June 19 — two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation — that General Gordon Granger, along with an army strong enough to combat the resistance, arrived to announce General Orders No. 3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”
"Thus, the last of America’s slaves — all 250,000 of them in Texas — were finally free."
@LiterateHiker Thank you
I agree!! After so much time and absolute mistreatment beyond comprehension, the black race deserves more than can ever be repayed for their treatment of being devalued as human beings.
A day to honor their freedom is the least we can do to honor their unfair circumstances of being "owned" against their will and being devalued and dehumanized.
2muchstupidity
Level 6
June 20, 2020
2
I’m all for it. I was given the afternoon off work today. I work for a university so a progressive move like this was not surprising.
indirect76
Level 7
June 19, 2020
2
itll just become commercialized. I say no. But I'm also white as snow so I don't feel like I have a say
redhog
Level 7
June 19, 2020
2
Well, you SHOULD have a day!! It does matter...along with their lives!
I would support the bill. I wasn’t so sure about MLK. I honestly didn’t think he was so important to US history to qualify, but I didn’t object. I understood that he was important to the African-American community. But this is important to US history as a whole.
Gatovicolo
Level 8
June 23, 2020
1
How about a Texas state holiday?
sapiofile
Level 5
June 22, 2020
1
It is a Texas state holiday.
Better than Columbus day or Xmas, which just because it is religious shouldn't be a fed holiday. Is good Friday one - that sure as fuck shouldn't be (I remember having college classes on good Friday though).
Beowulfsfriend
Level 9
June 22, 2020
1
You know this is about history it seems the majority that wants it changed does. We should all remember our own history and tell the government where to put their holidays. They have not made one Native American holiday really.
JohnLeigh1
Level 2
June 21, 2020
1
Yes. Where is the holiday to honor native Americans?
@racocn8 Native American Day 2020 is a federal holiday observed, annually, on the fourth Friday in September in the state of California and on the second Monday in October in South Dakota, United States.
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