Juneteenth a Federal holiday? What do you think?

[Anonymous]

If you’re a parent, you have to deal with spring break in those non-fed holiday months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would prefer Emancipation Day as the holiday. Juneteenth is just a sad reminder that the racism marched on and should be celebrated in Texas.

This was my thought too.

It should be a shameful day for TX for dragging their feet 2 whole years after the fact.

So all the people who have been celebrating Juneteenth have just been doing it wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like it. Good thing to celebrate. But too close to Memorial Day. We need a holiday in April.

That stretch from late Feb-Memorial Day is brutal!

If our political leaders can put their heads together on any bi-partisan the hope would be to provide more Federal holidays during this stretch. If you have kids you’re going to get Spring Break, but if you don’t you’re SOL.

We now have Memorial Day, Juneteenth and July 4th. Not that I’m complaining but can we spread this out a little?

[Anonymous]

As long as we get the day off, it's all good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like it. Good thing to celebrate. But too close to Memorial Day. We need a holiday in April.

That stretch from late Feb-Memorial Day is brutal!

If our political leaders can put their heads together on any bi-partisan the hope would be to provide more Federal holidays during this stretch. If you have kids you’re going to get Spring Break, but if you don’t you’re SOL.

We now have Memorial Day, Juneteenth and July 4th. Not that I’m complaining but can we spread this out a little?

Do you want to move July 4th to March?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would like it better if it wasn’t called Juneteenth. June 19th sounds good. Can we just combine it with MLK day? We are heading toward a lot of holidays. Besides the usual days, our school system takes off Christian, Jewish and Muslim holidays. I think we should cut Presidents’ Day or Columbia Day or Easter Monday.

Did you actually just ask if we could combine MLK Day and Juneteenth? How about first we combine Memorial Day and Veterans Day?

Okay you are right - I was being flippant. But I’m generally okay with dumping holidays. So fine, cut either the may holiday or the nov holiday. We should honor the vets on more than just one day anyway.

Honor vets more? Are you trying to turn us into North Korea? The fetishizing of people who decided to pursue employment in the military is completely out of hand. Made sense when we had conscription/a draft - we took those citizens autonomy/choice away and made them serve the country. I have no problem honoring WW2 and Vietnam vets. Since 1975 - it’s been a choice. I’d argue nurses and school teachers make an equal service contribution to this country - again often for low pay - until people start saying “thank you for your service” to them I’m underwhelmed at the jingoistic pro-military focus of so many - and can’t help but feel it is driven by guilt (at lack of other viable opportunities for some socioeconomic groups and their own lack of “service” to country).

Black people in this country didn’t choose to “serve” or get the shaft economically and socially for centuries after. A huge amount of wealth and privilege was literally built on their backs. That original sin has fueled policies and systems that have set an entire race up for failure (supporting the narrative that maybe the sin wasn’t so bad). We still haven’t properly come to terms with that legacy as a nation - as these cos-play confederate traitor worshipping fools are just one obvious demonstration.

So yeah, i would be fine merging veterans and memorial days to make room for a Juneteenth. That’s nothing. I’d also assign 50% of our planned military budget over next ten years (fear not - we’ll still have best funded military in the world) - to fund generational wealth (property/home ownership) and educational structures (HbCUs endowments allowing them to be tuition-free). That won’t make things right - but it would start to level the playing field some to make the American dream possible for everyone. Let’s start with an extra holiday though to celebrate an important step forward in the development of the USA. American Black history is American history. The cringe-worthy suggestion to lump Juneteenth with MLK (?“black issues day”) highlights how far we still have to go.

I love every single thing you wrote!

But I think the PP probably meant they didn’t want to celebrate the vets on two days but had a typo.

My husband, who is black, and retired military hates when people say thank you for your service. So I say, thank you for those great military benefits you provide for our family. As for Juneteenth, I don't know. I'd rather that Americans acknowledge systemic racism. We are still fighting about the 1619 project, CRT and other just teaching real history. Can we start there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like it. Good thing to celebrate. But too close to Memorial Day. We need a holiday in April.

That stretch from late Feb-Memorial Day is brutal!

If our political leaders can put their heads together on any bi-partisan the hope would be to provide more Federal holidays during this stretch. If you have kids you’re going to get Spring Break, but if you don’t you’re SOL.

We now have Memorial Day, Juneteenth and July 4th. Not that I’m complaining but can we spread this out a little?

Do you want to move July 4th to March?

Are you capable of reading comprehension?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like it. Good thing to celebrate. But too close to Memorial Day. We need a holiday in April.

That stretch from late Feb-Memorial Day is brutal!

If our political leaders can put their heads together on any bi-partisan the hope would be to provide more Federal holidays during this stretch. If you have kids you’re going to get Spring Break, but if you don’t you’re SOL.

We now have Memorial Day, Juneteenth and July 4th. Not that I’m complaining but can we spread this out a little?

Do you want to move July 4th to March?

Are you capable of reading comprehension?

How else would you spread them out? Do you want to move Memorial Day to March?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this is a critical holiday. As a white person, I think to myself, shouldn't we as Americans want to celebrate the day we stopped enslaving people?? This is a big deal! It's not just for Black people!

+1619

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who doesn’t want another holiday? Can we add one to March and April too now, as those months are holiday deserts. Anyhow, it is a meaningless gesture. It does not repair slavery. It is a political stunt to garner future votes, but hey if we all get a day off, I am down with it.

Actually, it isn't meaningless. It will entrench the significance of the date into the minds of Americans forever more. Sure, one day there may be Junteenth sales and BBQ's, but in the short term, the explanation of the date and its meaning will be top of mind. Critically important right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that if they really cared about Juneteenth, they would have done this a month ago so everyone could enjoy a holiday. If we do get tomorrow off, I think a lot of us will be shocked. Will my daycare close? Will dh get extra pay for a federal holiday?

Starting next year, yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would like it better if it wasn’t called Juneteenth. June 19th sounds good. Can we just combine it with MLK day? We are heading toward a lot of holidays. Besides the usual days, our school system takes off Christian, Jewish and Muslim holidays. I think we should cut Presidents’ Day or Columbia Day or Easter Monday.

Did you actually just ask if we could combine MLK Day and Juneteenth? How about first we combine Memorial Day and Veterans Day?

Okay you are right - I was being flippant. But I’m generally okay with dumping holidays. So fine, cut either the may holiday or the nov holiday. We should honor the vets on more than just one day anyway.

Honor vets more? Are you trying to turn us into North Korea? The fetishizing of people who decided to pursue employment in the military is completely out of hand. Made sense when we had conscription/a draft - we took those citizens autonomy/choice away and made them serve the country. I have no problem honoring WW2 and Vietnam vets. Since 1975 - it’s been a choice. I’d argue nurses and school teachers make an equal service contribution to this country - again often for low pay - until people start saying “thank you for your service” to them I’m underwhelmed at the jingoistic pro-military focus of so many - and can’t help but feel it is driven by guilt (at lack of other viable opportunities for some socioeconomic groups and their own lack of “service” to country).

Black people in this country didn’t choose to “serve” or get the shaft economically and socially for centuries after. A huge amount of wealth and privilege was literally built on their backs. That original sin has fueled policies and systems that have set an entire race up for failure (supporting the narrative that maybe the sin wasn’t so bad). We still haven’t properly come to terms with that legacy as a nation - as these cos-play confederate traitor worshipping fools are just one obvious demonstration.

So yeah, i would be fine merging veterans and memorial days to make room for a Juneteenth. That’s nothing. I’d also assign 50% of our planned military budget over next ten years (fear not - we’ll still have best funded military in the world) - to fund generational wealth (property/home ownership) and educational structures (HbCUs endowments allowing them to be tuition-free). That won’t make things right - but it would start to level the playing field some to make the American dream possible for everyone. Let’s start with an extra holiday though to celebrate an important step forward in the development of the USA. American Black history is American history. The cringe-worthy suggestion to lump Juneteenth with MLK (?“black issues day”) highlights how far we still have to go.

I love every single thing you wrote!

But I think the PP probably meant they didn’t want to celebrate the vets on two days but had a typo.

My husband, who is black, and retired military hates when people say thank you for your service. So I say, thank you for those great military benefits you provide for our family. As for Juneteenth, I don't know. I'd rather that Americans acknowledge systemic racism. We are still fighting about the 1619 project, CRT and other just teaching real history. Can we start there?

Agree, so many of hate “thank you for your service” but don’t want to seem ungrateful. It is in many ways a belittling and patronizing phrase - as if we didn’t have any choice and didn’t go into our careers with our eyes open after weighing pros/cons. Just not the hill to die on.

Agree about teaching real history. I also don’t understand why the current tolerance for 1/6 traitor politicians and why we aren’t having a national truth and reconciliation process on racism rather than allowing the lazy 2-side-ism to be the default. Sometimes there aren’t good people on both sides - sometimes it is just a cancer slowly growing that you can’t ignore and allow to fester - you just need to make the decision to cut it completely out. A man attacked the police to storm the US capital with a confederate flag FFS - while a congresswoman gave updates on the internet on location of the speaker to those hunting her. The example we are setting by not expelling and prosecuting is sending a message to the history we are writing right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would prefer Emancipation Day as the holiday. Juneteenth is just a sad reminder that the racism marched on and should be celebrated in Texas.

At first I thought that Emancipation Day ought to be the day to commemorate, but the Emancipation Proclamation took effect January 1, and the 13th amendment took effect December 6 (or December 18 depending, since that's how long it took for the federal government to receive notice from the state legislatures). Neither are good dates for a holiday at this point.

And yeah, Juneteenth was primarily an east Texas tradition that spread over time to other areas of the South, and some northern cities due to the Great Migration. But Juneteenth has the advantage of having developed organically, and that's better for a holiday's broad acceptance than simply declaring a date to be when something gets celebrated simply because it's more accurate.

It'll be annoying when your kid asks if June 19th was the day that the slaves were freed, and you'll have to say, "well, no, it was the date some slaves in Texas were freed, because blah blah Emancipation Proclamation, blah blah one last cotton crop, blah blah 13th amendment..." But at this point we're used to having the "Columbus didn't actually discover America" and the "Jesus wasn't actually born in December" conversations (or for a deep cut the "Labor Day isn't May 1 because Grover Cleveland blah blah national guard blah blah" convo).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like it. Good thing to celebrate. But too close to Memorial Day. We need a holiday in April.

That stretch from late Feb-Memorial Day is brutal!

If our political leaders can put their heads together on any bi-partisan the hope would be to provide more Federal holidays during this stretch. If you have kids you’re going to get Spring Break, but if you don’t you’re SOL.

We now have Memorial Day, Juneteenth and July 4th. Not that I’m complaining but can we spread this out a little?

Do you want to move July 4th to March?

Are you capable of reading comprehension?

How else would you spread them out? Do you want to move Memorial Day to March?

I guess I’m going to need to explain where your reading comprehension is failing you.

The proposal is for politicians to come up with “bipartisan solutions” to this spring holiday gap. No proscribed solution was proposed. Easy and obvious options Your immediate leap to “you want to move the 4th of July?” therefore demonstrates a lack of reading comprehension. There are many alternative options. One that you pass over is obviously to move Memorial Day. Another could be to move Labor Day to May 1, like the rest of the world. And perhaps the easiest of all would be to just add another holiday.

It helps to understand what you’re reading before hitting “Submit”.

[Anonymous]

Agree, so many of hate “thank you for your service” but don’t want to seem ungrateful. It is in many ways a belittling and patronizing phrase - as if we didn’t have any choice and didn’t go into our careers with our eyes open after weighing pros/cons. Just not the hill to die on.

This sentiment strikes me as weird. I am an LEO, and when people thank me for doing what I do for work, I just view it as gratitude for doing a necessary, difficult, and underpaid job.