Juneteenth Declared Federal Holiday

[Kate*]

https://www.nytimes.com/article/june...lebration.html

On June 17th, President Biden officially declared Juneteenth (June 19th), the date enslaved people were emancipated, a federal holiday.

I think this is great. What frustrates me is that there were around 14 republican politicians who didn't want this. One sited it as "Identity politics" and this is why the term identity politics is so harmful. It's a nice way of saying "I'm racist and don't like this." They keep saying this was bipartisan, which it was, but it's still concerning that there were 14 republican politicians who did not want to recognize this holiday. This is a small step in the fight against racism and hate in america.

https://www.aol.com/news/house-passe...233117923.html

[Kate*]

My issue with it is that we're celebrating our realization and reversal of one of, if not the most egregious policies in history. Most of our other federal holidays are recognizing things like becoming independent, our workforce, our military, etc. and this one is just celebrating the fact that we fixed our own screw up. It just doesn't sit right.

Originally Posted by Kate*

My issue with it is that we're celebrating our realization and reversal of one of, if not the most egregious policies in history. Most of our other federal holidays are recognizing things like becoming independent, our workforce, our military, etc. and this one is just celebrating the fact that we fixed our own screw up. It just doesn't sit right.

It's a holiday that many African Americans celebrate and have been celebrating for years. They deserve this holiday to be recognized. This was a momentous event for them and we haven't acknowledged it the way they have

This is a holiday celebrating the beginning of African Americans freedom from slavery. It is something they deserve to have recognized but the USA chose not to so they celebrated it on their own.

Here's an article I came across that discusses one woman's fight to make juneteenth a recognized holiday
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/17/10074...tional-holiday

[Dawn.]

I think this is a great thing for everyone to recognize and to reflect on what the African American had (and still have to) deal with.