Juneteenth, a Significant American Holiday

 

by Pa Rock

Patriot

On this date, June 19th in 1865, federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform America's last enslaved population that the Civil War was over, the South had lost, and they were free at last.  The anniversary of that joyous event quickly became an unofficial holiday in many Black homes and communities that was known as "Juneteenth."  In 2021 Congress passed a bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday, and President Biden proudly signed in into law.

The mail won't run today and US government offices will be closed.  Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia where the nation's capital is located have also recognized Juneteenth as an official state holiday and their offices will be closed as well.

I am proud to note that my redneck state of Missouri somehow managed to officially recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday.  Perhaps anarchists dumped LSD into Jefferson City's water reservoirs (an old movie reference to 1968's "Wild in the Streets," one of Pa Rock's all-time favorites!).

If Donald Trump had been President when Congress passed the legislation making Juneteenth a holiday, the mail would still be running today.  Trump, whose father was arrested in New York City in 1927 for "refusing to disperse" during a KKK rally,  has twice moved to minimize the importance of the holiday since returning to office in 2025.  He declined to issue a presidential proclamation on Juneteenth of last year recognizing the holiday and instead whined  on social media that the United States observed "too many" non-working holidays that are "costing our country."  (Like thee UFC  Cage Fight Night on the White House lawn for his birthday?  That one certainly cost plenty.   Another big waste of taxpayer money was Trump's dud of a military parade for his birthday last year.  Spare us your cost-saving, racist-tinged sanctimony, Donbo!)) 

In December Trump's US Department of the Interior removed both Black holidays - Martin Luther King, Jr, Day and Juneteenth, from the National Park Service's list of fee-free days, a petty move designed to minimize the importance of a significant segment of the American population.  (There is currently a move afoot in Congress to make both of those national holidays admission-free at our national parks - by law - something a less-enfeebled President would likely support.)

Happy Juneteenth!  Let's all take time to celebrate the end of the ugliest chapter of American history and do everything we can to stamp out the resurgence of bigotry currently infecting the land of the free and the home of the brave.  Let's be better than our leaders.  That's a very low bar.