On Tuesday, the Senate threw Black America a bone and unanimously passed a resolution marking June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day, a holiday commemorating the end of slavery under the Emancipation Proclamation.
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Yet, several members of the Senate still own…
Managing Editor G. Adams: Stephen, you better not say slaves.
Stephen: Uggh, I can’t have my work pigeonholed like this! Can I say Tim Scotts?
G. Adams: Yes, that works.
Apparently GOP senators had a change of heart (this is assuming that they have them in the first place) and decided to give the Blacks (and whites) the day off. According to CNN, George Floyd’s death and the following Black Lives Matter protests led to a massive push for white folks to try and make it right. You remember the declarations by companies for diversity and such? Well, this holiday apparently falls under that category.
Funny because in 2020—you know, just a few months ago—Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson (no relation to Magic and EJ and ‘nem) blocked the bill, noting that a day off for federal employees would cost U.S. taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, CNN reports.
Well, apparently all of that changed.
“Although I strongly support celebrating Emancipation, I objected to the cost and lack of debate,” said Johnson in a statement. “While it still seems strange that having taxpayers provide federal employees paid time off is now required to celebrate the end of slavery, it is clear that there is no appetite in Congress to further discuss the matter.”
The measure needs to pass the House, which it will, and be signed by President Joe Biden to become law, which will happen as well. But all of this stands alongside the enormous push by Critical Race Theory haters to stop the teaching of slavery and subdue the Black vote without even yelling “Taser!”
And before you give me that “What does the Senate have to do with this considering local governments are the ones who are banning Critical Race Theory and suppressing the Black vote?” face, just know that the Senate is fully aware of what is happening and ain’t doing shit to stop it. The GOP portion of the Senate is basically the cop watching as local governments put a knee to the neck of Black voting rights as they simultaneously ban the teaching of history, which makes them complicit.
But let’s talk about happy news, shall we?
“On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger announced in Galveston, Texas, the end of slavery in accordance with President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.
“In 1980, Juneteenth became a Texas state holiday. In the decades since, every state but South Dakota came to officially commemorate Juneteenth, but only a handful of states observe it as a paid holiday,” CNN reports.
And all of that is subject to change once the bill becomes law.
I think Genetta summed the hypocrisy of the Senate taking up this cause now nicely in her viral tweet:
And News Editor Monique Judge had a lot to say in this thread:
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