Whew. For Black people in America – it’s been a ride: from 1619 Project to Tulsa to George Floyd to critical race theory — but a bright light, just the other day, the Federal Government signed to make Juneteeth a National Holiday.
What does it mean, according to WTOP.com
An activist at Howard University in D.C. hopes that the recognition of Juneteenth as a federal holiday will require all people to recognize that the U.S. wrongfully enslaved people of African descent and prospered under the chattel-based system of slavery.
Congress approved a bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday Wednesday following a 415-14 vote by the House. President Joe Biden signed it.
(Photo by Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)
Ravi Perry, chair of the political science department at Howard University, is not sure that the recognition of Juneteenth as a federal holiday is a “moment of celebration.”
“The holiday is certainly something to acknowledge; it’s not an insignificant step,” Perry said. “But it is important, I think, to recognize that not one Black person asked for a Juneteenth holiday.”
Juneteenth marks the date — June 19, 1865 — when all enslaved Black people in the U.S. learned they were free — more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. Click To TweetSEE VIDEO BELOW on some organizations to support.
