Washington, D.C. – President Joe Biden signed into law Thursday a bill making June 19 a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery but not everyone sees it as progress closing the racial divide keeping Americans apart. Members of the Project 21 black leadership network – which has used the anniversary as an opportunity to encourage other black Americans to celebrate their liberty and self-sufficiency in a nation that offers unlimited opportunities for two decades – said the effort may distract attention from the real problems the black community faces daily.
“Far too many Americans, regardless of their ethnic background, are unfamiliar with Juneteenth. The blessing of liberty was irrevocably granted on June 19, 1865, to those who remained enslaved in Texas, not knowing they had been freed more than two years earlier. For them, this was their declaration of freedom,” said Project 21 member Derryck Green. “While I am agnostic on a national holiday, I don’t want the commemoration hijacked by racial activists who would use it as another tool to demonize white Americans under the pretense of racial justice. As we’ve seen since last summer, this has been destructive to the American experiment.”
The bill, which was passed overwhelmingly by the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday after a unanimous vote in the Senate, commemorates the June 19, 1865, arrival of Union troops in Galveston, Texas who brought with them news the Civil War had ended, and that President Lincoln had abolished slavery throughout the Confederacy two-and-a-half years earlier through the Emancipation Proclamation.
Galveston’s former slave population began celebrating its freedom annually on the anniversary of this day. “Juneteenth” grew to become a motivating and stabilizing commemoration for black Texans experiencing the uncertainties associated with their newfound freedom and full integration into American society.
“Juneteenth is already everything but a national holiday since 47 states, local governments, and even private companies recognize it,” said Project 21 member Martin Baker. “Juneteenth was an acknowledgment of the Emancipation Proclamation, which history tells us only applied to the states in rebellion. If we want to celebrate an all-encompassing ‘Freedom Day,’ perhaps we should choose December 6 – the anniversary of when the 13th Amendment was ratified.”
During the debate over establishing the new holiday, some lawmakers raised concerns about its cost. Members of Project 21 however, said they were more concerned whether its creation would be politicized. For example, Senator Ed Markey said when introducing the Juneteenth holiday legislation: “Today we commemorate. Tomorrow, we fight.”
“It is surprising the number of black Americans – let alone all Americans – who are not yet aware” of Juneteenth’s significance, Project 21’s Marie Fischer said. “But to make this a federal holiday is not something I feel is in the best interests of the country, especially now,” she continued before going on to question whether it would help bring the nation together.
“I constantly hear everyone talking about unity, but would a federal holiday end up being a unifier? Or would it give fuel to those who support critical race theory by pointing out a day that marks one group as an oppressor and another as the oppressed? Such a holiday could be easily hijacked by those who insist that blacks only advance when it benefits white elites. Nothing seems to get pushed these days unless it fits a specific narrative,” Fischer said.
“Juneteenth should prompt us not just to take inventory of how far we’ve come, but also realize that – despite the racialized claims of ‘white supremacy’ or ‘systemic racism’ – blacks have the agency and ability to control our own lives,” Green added. “This includes becoming full participants in society.”
The law establishing “Juneteenth” as an officially recognized federal holiday comes roughly a year after the nation was rocked by violent protests following the murder of George Floyd, an African-American man, by a Minneapolis police officer. It will be the eleventh such day, joining a list that includes Christmas, New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving and Independence Day, explorer Christopher Columbus and slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Peter Roff is a former U.S. News & World Report contributing editor now affiliated with several Washington, D.C. public policy organizations. He appears regularly as a commentator on the One America News network. Reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @PeterRoff.
Peter Roff
Peter Roff is affiliated with several Washington, D.C. public policy organizations and is a former U.S. News and World Report contributing editor who appears regularly as a commentator on the One America News network. He can be reached by email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @PeterRoff.
Not one black has ever known a slave. This is just a dividing point to keep blacks where they want to be~! Dependent upon unkle -sam and keep thim checks cumming.
It’s about time you said something worthwhile…….
He’s doing better Bug D
Gosh dan, you must listen to the pervert in the black sack too!.. Hey, please name a nice successful Catholic nation. You have a hundred to pick from just south of the USA.
I guess this is some of the dogma that the perverts in the black sacks did not mention. Oh well, next week they will be thumping on it.
MORE APEASEMENT BULL SHIT ACT BY A BUFFOON PARROT WITH EAR BUDS FOR MORE BLM CRAP.
Joe biden is a bad idea.
Joe is CATHOLIC. Yep all bad ideas. A hundred nations, a thousand years and exactly 100% failure. Vote for ANY CATHOLIC and you get perfect failure.
LISTEN UP…ALOT of INNOCENT PEOPLE Have Been KILLED in 2020 and 2021. VIOLENCE Begets VIOLENCE. THOSE Who SHED INNOCENT BLOOD Will GET Their JU ST DESSERTS.GOD Has PLENTY of ROOM in the WILDERNESS for MORE CARCASSES. From SamuraiQueen. 😄😄😄
and that would be the blacks killing innocents blacks i presume?
Mr. Biden and his administration yes create an irreversible problem for all United States citizens!
You hypocritical polyTICians. How dare you do this, while at the same time enslaving the whole country. We are NOT going to put up with it.
Don’t lawmakers have more important items and laws to explore and enact with the runaway inflation caused by the President and Democratic party ?
The Black community has the problems they have because they keep voting Dixiecrat/ Democrat
The party of the KKK Segregation and Jim Crow
The commiecrats have been pissed off since the republicans took their slaves away
I understand the need for recognition but may i PLEASE request and be granted a non-holiday, OR holiday, for anyone who is NOT DEMANDING A BLACK anything, destroying historic statues, not rioting, flat out NOT bitching about being denied something (of which they haven’t been on this earth for the last 280 of the 300 years)
I’ve worked all my life, never gotten any freebies, been denied unemployment, had MY PRESIDENT’S DAY replaced with MLK day.
NO street or school names of a minority person has been lost or stolen ONLY historic names that minorities “may be offended by”..
WHEN WILL THIS END???
President Lincoln had freed the slaves and two years later the Democrats were still holding slaves? Why?
biden, destroyer of the AMERICAN WAY!!! He’s making one mistake after another, the destruction is never ending. IMPEACH biden & harris, they tried twice with PRESIDENT TRUMP, and FAILED both times!!! Now we are at a point where those two CAN & SHOULD BE IMPEACHED AND THROWN IN PRISON. I really hate to say it, but if we can’t get this done, there WILL BE AN ARMED CIVIL WAR, that may be the only way, I really hope not!!
Incompetence at its highest, both of them gotta go now.
not a special day for me. hope i get the paid day off though.
colored have had a difficulty from way back a thousand years ago with entry level internship training wage as well as paying for passage travel on credit (is this a EU version of chatteled I’ve heard about?) into the usa. every colored person I have ever met in the usa was better off on most all aspects than myself/Anglo and others. the wagonwheel midwestern included as redskinindians homewrecked as did the weather, while colored laughed. after 200 plus years i have less than ever. you should peruse old picture of same time period and see the devastating disasters anglos have suffered and lost all. for some odd reason those stealing health then wealth laughing colored are surviving quite well. colored doing well in erasing lighter colors and their previously preferred quality and personality types in unbelievable illegals ways meanly and their future of gainful education and employment. quite painful and won’t be forgotten.
When will he declare “white idiot day ” ??
No. How about “Be Less White” Day? Could you imagine the furor that would be unleashed among the woke/cancel-culture apologists and woke corporations if anyone said, “Be less black, red, yellow or brown”? There would be no end to the outrage.
I am 74 and have lived in 4 different states and the British West Indies and have never seen a WHITE PERSON. I dought that any person has ever seen a WHITE PERSON.
June needed a federal holiday now for March and August
Pandering…
Its what Dems DO day 1
If Juneteenth is now a holiday, than February as Black History Month should no longer be necessary!
Martin Luther King would be appalled
Just what we need, another day where Federal Employees are paid out the taxpayers pockets to do nothing. They should be limited to 8 paid holidays per year like those of us who pay their wages.
The word got to Texas less than five months after the 13th Amendment (the act that actually and legally abolished slavery, as opposed to the Emancipation Proclamation) was ratified. It seems to me that it is more appropriately a Texas state holiday (as Patriot’s Day is for Massachusetts) than a federal holiday. Most months have at least one federal holiday; some have two and some have none. With June now having its own holiday, what can we do for the less fortunate months? Shouldn’t every month have at least one federal holiday in it? We’re way behind Europe in the number of days off as it is, and the president wants us to be more like them. Isn’t August ripe for a Muslim holiday? If you don’t think so you’re a racist (even though Islam is not a race) and an Islamophobe. But what do I know? I’m just a dumb white guy, which makes me intrinsically racist and unqualified to have an opinion.
It’s just a piece of a bigger picture. At the moment, Martin Luther King is the single American with a holiday honoring him. The tradeoff for that was that (arguably) the two greatest presidents, Washington and Lincoln, not only share a holiday but share it with all the other presidents in history to make sure that no President will ever again receive individual honor. Now we have a new “National Independence Day” in June. Anyone want to guess what the tradeoff for that will be? All a part of “erasing history”.
It’s a replay from the Lyndon Johnson administration when Johnson declared a national holiday for martin luther King he said to his aids that now every black in the country will vote democrat for the next 50 years.He wasn’t aware of the fact that king was a strong republican.
The only reason they made the juneteenth holiday was for the same reason
More looney tune out of the White house. Do something Useful eliminate all federal Holidays except the 4th of July. Christmas & Easter
Schools open all year round with only vacations in August 5th to the day Sept. 5th,
K thru 12 grade completed by age 1, Then stay in school another 2 yrs either college courses or trade school to age 18 yrs old
Perhaps if the black population heard more about the history of this country and “Juneteenth”, they would learn that it was the Republican North Army that freed the slaves from the white, racist southern DEMOCRATS way back in 1865. Why black Americans ever joined and supported the left in this country has always puzzled those of us conservatives. Knowledge IS power as they say, and “The truth shall set you free”. When the world realizes that the racism and white supremacy we all hate, are just the usual tools for the left, then the real racists will be exposed and shunned from our society. Beware what you wish for Democrats, you may not like what YOU make the folks realize about yourselves and YOUR party.
Bravo to the astute analysis of Project 21. I am heartbroken to see the increasing divide when everyone wants to live in peace and harmony; judged solely on merit. What happened to the great unification speech on Inauguration Day? How shameful.