Juneteenth to be a national holiday

originally posted by: RazorV66
I am embarrassed to be white in your presence.

Of course you are. Color me surprised.

originally posted by: starviego
What about the Navajos? When are they going to get their own national holiday?

They also deserve it.

Signed-

1/4 Blackfoot guy who never took advantage of any of the benefits I could have collected.

So you're asking for progress?

originally posted by: LordAhriman
The fact that you all have a problem with this is exactly why I'm such an ass on here lately. I have black friends who have always celebrated it. We should all celebrate it.

ATS: "jUnEtEeNtH? WhAt AbOuT aLLtEeNtH? aLL mOnThS mAtTeR!"

Juneteenth is largely a regional celebration in the country, sort of like Cinco de Mayo is in Mexico, and they get confused to find out it's such a big thing here. We do that because we largely confuse it with Mexican Independence Day which is a different day entirely.

So while people in certain areas celebrate it quite heavily, in other places, people are like, "So?"

a reply to: Bluntone22

They gave themselves a day off, surprising.

Juneteenth, a day to remember freedom for slaves.
The house passed the bill 415-14....


Am i the only one who finds the inversion funny? Its a numerical palindrome. Hmmm. There are so many other trends and patterns like this.

So...since most federal employees are white in this country, they will get an extra day off. Yeah, I can see that everyone working for the feds will be happy, especially the white people. Next they need to make a holiday for women getting a right to vote, guys will like getting that day off too.

a reply to: LordAhriman

There are people on ATS who appreciate the holiday regardless of political leanings. I am glad that we have a nationally recognized day that celebrates the end of slavery. Regardless of where the holiday started or when, I'm happy to raise a pint in honor of human growth.

a reply to: LordAhriman

Because I was unaware of what until last year was mostly a regional holiday? I lived in Memphis for 8 years, with the African American majority of the city I would think I would have heard of it. Heck my wife was born and raised there, never heard of it either. Did I never hear of it because I was in the wrong area?

Just because I had never heard of it doesn't mean I don't acknowledge it, I just find the name to be silly. Emancipation is something to be celebrated as it was a critical first step.

originally posted by: nemonimity
a reply to: LordAhriman

There are people on ATS who appreciate the holiday regardless of political leanings. I am glad that we have a nationally recognized day that celebrates the end of slavery. Regardless of where the holiday started or when, I'm happy to raise a pint in honor of human growth.

THANK YOU!

Shocked by the reaction of some of you. Seriously

originally posted by: LordAhriman
The fact that you all have a problem with this is exactly why I'm such an ass on here lately. I have black friends who have always celebrated it. We should all celebrate it.

ATS: "jUnEtEeNtH? WhAt AbOuT aLLtEeNtH? aLL mOnThS mAtTeR!"

There was four posts made in this thread before your post here. Quote the one where they said they have a problem with it.

a reply to: Bluntone22

If an illegitimate President signs the Junetenth holiday in to law, the holiday is moot.

a reply to: Bluntone22

I wonder how many people even know what the Emancipation Proclamation even was/is?

Another Federal Holiday that'll become another Memorial Day.

Y'know, that holiday that "officially" signals the beginning of summer party season.

Meh.

a reply to: Bluntone22

I'm pretty ok with this, I was asking the adults back in the 90's why it wasn't a holiday then yet. Virtually everyone agreed it should had been made one decades prior as it was and couldn't figure out why it wasn't.

Believe it or not, most folks understand & agree it's actually a pretty significant & important historical commemoration. Blows Columbus' never-actually-knew-the-NA-continent-was-there-and-didn't-set-foot-here annual groveling BS out of the water, honestly.
I live in a pretty Red spot here, none of my neighbors are pissed. They're echoing the same stuff the adults mused over in the 90's with us -- why the # wasn't this done decades ago, DC??

a reply to: Bluntone22

Is this holiday proclamation phase-1 of the reparations project that will ultimately yield $25,000 for each of us who have minority DNA in our system?

a reply to: LordAhriman

You think canceling Indigenous Peoples Day is going to fly?

originally posted by: Hypntick

.....The first I heard of it was last year as my company decided to make it a holiday. I've got no issue with the holiday, that name is pretty silly though, emancipation day would be much better.

It's the same for me. Last Summer was the first time I had ever even heard the nonsensical word. If a more logical term was used, then maybe it wouldn't have taken me until now to learn what it was actually supposed to represent.

Never heard of this until about 2-3 years ago.

I don't have a problem with it conceptually, but my view is, I want issues and advocacy like this to percolate up through official channels rather than have it insidiously smuggled in by BigTech and BigMedia.

I was actually going to author a post on this because, looking at Google Calendar lately, I noticed that Google had taken it upon itself to mark June 19th as an official holiday like Memorial Day or Fourth of July.

Ummm....OK Google? Apparently because you provide a calendar service, you've taken it upon yourself to decide what days to commemorate (Juneteenth) in the US. On whose authority? Meanwhile, nobody is marking 9/11 as a holiday, or WW2 or Civil War armistice days, or any of a number of other days in American history of significant sorrow or joy to warrant commemoration.

So no back to my earlier point concerning official channels. This is important because the "progressives" and BAMN folk in favor of BigTech and BigMedia setting the agenda in this country, often by stealth or by arbitrary and tyrannical enforcement of ToS, will point out the Google, or Facepalm, or Instagag, or any other company can "do as they please" because, private company. These are the same people that a few years ago would froth at the mouth because a baker didn't care to service certain occasions, as a private business, but it was ok to punish them, because BigMedia said it was wrong.

When I say "official channels", what I would love to see, is the people we pay with our tax money, the legislature, earn their living for once, and write up a LEGITIMATE and COMPELLING bill that accurately explains the justification for the holiday, of which Juneteenth seems pretty significant to me.

Now reading BigMedia, it seems that something resembling the legislative action and advocacy I describe above *now exists*, and the proposed bill is here.

The problems I have are as follows:

(cart) ~~~~~~~ (horse)

Why is Goggle and BigMedia apparently deciding that this is a national holiday BEFORE such legislation has actually passed through our legislative system? Is this the bar that's been set now: our private businesses determine which days in American history are worthy of commemoration, and not our government? This is a worrying precedent and I would suggest it is the beginning of more such things to come. Let's see what Google deems a national holiday next....

I would like to think, if our legislators crafted a bill that describes why this holiday is important, laid out the rationale and significance for it, and it's done in a tasteful way that informs Americans on the subject matter, in a unifying and non-divisive manner, everybody should be pleased and get behind it. Emancipation was a critical turning point for our country, and IMO worth celebrating. I don't think any legislators should oppose such a bill. Again, though, this thing feels like tail (BigTech/BigMedia) wagging dog (Congress), and illustrates the reactivity and the lack of vision and initiative that our legislative branch suffers from.

The other issue I have is messaging.

If you follow the link to the bill definition in congress.gov site, you'll the official holiday name in the bill summary is

This bill establishes Juneteenth National Independence Day, June 19, as a legal public holiday.

Huh?

Independence Day is 4 July, last I knew, and it commemorates the independence of the original American colonies from the British crown. In other words, the birth of a new nation.

Is this a deliberate conflation, or do our congressional overlords seriously have such a limited lexicon that they couldn't actually entitle our new holiday with a name that actually, you know, describes what we're celebrating?

Emancipation Day?

Freedom Day?

All Citizens Day?

Instead we get "Juneteenth National Independence Day". I'll set aside the head scratching "Juneteenth" moniker ("Hey Bill, when's your birthday again?" "Oh it's May 20something" o_O), and leave you with this question:

With the official establishment of this holiday, who is now independent, and what are they independent from?

Falls on a Saturday next year. I am sure there will be an observed day so politicians still get 3 day weekends. Much like MLK day, I’ll be working.

There is some really gross stuff in this comment section.

It seems that people just love being offended around here.

originally posted by: ketsuko
Juneteenth is largely a regional celebration in the country...

Regional to where? My friends have a party every year here in New Jersey which is how I've been aware of it since I was a kid.

Not that I think we need another Federal holiday (we have way too many) but this is definitely a thing if you are a non-cracker.