Ending Racial Disparities

 

DALLAS (AP) — After Opal Lee led hundreds in a walk through her Texas hometown to celebrate Juneteenth this weekend, the 95-year-old Black woman who helped successfully push for the holiday to get national recognition said it’s important that people learn the history behind it.

“We need to know so people can heal from it and never let it happen again,” said Lee, whose 2 1/2-mile (4-kilometer) walk through Fort Worth symbolizes the 2 1/2 years it took after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery in the Southern states for the enslaved people in Texas to be freed.

A year after President Joe Biden signed legislation making June 19 the nation’s 12th federal holiday, people across the U.S. gathered at events filled with music, food and fireworks. Celebrations also included an emphasis on learning about history and addressing racial disparities. Many Black people celebrated the

day just as they did before any formal recognition.

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, commemorates the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to order freedom for the enslaved people of the state — two months after the Confederacy had surrendered in the Civil War.

“Great nations don’t ignore their most painful moments,” Biden said in a statement Sunday. “They confront them to grow stronger. And that is what this great nation must continue to do.”

A Gallup Poll found that Americans are more familiar with Juneteenth than they were last year, with 59% saying they knew “a lot” or “some” about the holiday compared with 37% a year ago in May. The poll also found that support for making Juneteenth part of school history lessons increased from 49% to 63%.  READ MORE...

JUNETEENTH

 ALL SLAVES IN AMERICA WERE GIVEN THEIR FREEDOM...

Since I was born Caucasian and have no desire to feel guilty because of being born white, I see no reason why I should even celebrate this holiday because it really does not pertain to me like July 4 pertains...  and, all I do for the 4th of July is cook a hamburger and put up the American Flag outside on the front porch.

I am no politician and I am glad that I never had that desire, but I fear that Juneteenth is going to send the wrong message here in the US and that after whites are forced to take a day off by either the government or their employers, that they will do absolutely nothing to celebrate black freedom...  

Why are we not authorizing a Federal Holiday for all the Native Americans to whom we gave their freedom as well by putting them on RESERVATIONS...  

To be honest, I have more empathy for Native Americans than I have for Black Americans...  because UNLIKE BLACKS they were here first and WHITES took their land and their freedoms away from them...

To me, our Federal Government is making a mistake and will begin to cause more division than ever before by recognizing the different between whites and blacks.

MAKING JUNETEENTH A NATIONAL HOLIDAY

What in the hell is Juneteenth?

Juneteenth is a holiday celebrating the liberation of those who had been held as slaves in the United States. Originating in Texas, it is now celebrated annually on the 19th of June throughout the United States, with varying official recognition. Wikipedia

On June 19, 1865, the announcement was made that tens of thousands of African-Americans in Texas had been emancipated, closing the door on one of the last chapters of slavery in the U.S.

Juneteenth traces its origins back to Galveston, Texas where on June 19, 1865 Union soldiers, led by Major Gen. Gordon Granger landed in the city with news that the Civil War had ended and slaves were now free. The announcement came two-and-a-half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of Jan. 1, 1863 that freed slaves in Confederate states. However, since that proclamation was made during the Civil War, it was ignored by Confederate states and it wasn’t until the end of the war that the Executive Order was enforced in the South.

The day's name is a combination of "June" and "nineteenth" in honor of the date of Granger's announcement and first appeared around 1903. It is also known as African American Freedom Day or Emancipation Day.

BUT...  making it a National Holiday?   Well...  personally, I think it makes more sense to make it a National Holiday than the National Holiday that was created for MLK Jr.  

HOWEVER, if I was still working, I would like the idea of another PAID HOLIDAY regardless of where it came from...

MY CONCERN:  Will this stop RACISM in America?

My answer:  NO...

Holidays and de-funding the police and killing white folks in retaliation or even paying black reparations for slavery will not stop RACISM in America.

I've got a better idea:  LET'S REMOVE SLAVERY FROM OUR HISTORY BOOKS