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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums14 Votes Against Juneteenth: A Racist Act In The Halls Of Congress
Link to tweet
Hunter Walker
@hunterw
The press needs to be clearer about what this is. This is not partisan, debatable, or confusing. It is an objectively racist act by an extremist fringe within Congress.
14 Votes Against Juneteenth: A Racist Act In The Halls Of Congress
Something this simple and awful needs to be easily recognized for what it is.
theuprising.info
1:06 PM · Jun 18, 2021
https://www.theuprising.info/p/14-votes-against-juneteenth-a-racist
There is currently a fight going on in this country over whether we should celebrate the end of slavery. Yes, you read that right. A small number of elected officials and pundits are actually debating whether it is acceptable to have a holiday commemorating the American Emancipation.
Yesterday, President Biden signed a law proclaiming Juneteenth a federal holiday. The legislation was sent to Bidens desk with the support of almost every member of Congress. However, in the House, 14 Republicans voted against the measure and two others didnt vote at all.
Many people in the public sphere are already highlighting this and condemning it while stopping just short of calling it by its name. But this is not a subjective matter. Refusing to celebrate the end of slavery is racism. Something this simple and awful needs to be easily recognized for what it is.
Juneteenth marks an 1865 military order that informed people in Texas they were free. Thanks to persistent Confederate influence, that state was one of the last in the country where slavery was being practiced at the time, two years after President Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth has been celebrated in the Black community for over 200 years. Activists have pushed to make it a federal holiday for decades, and a renewed national effort to celebrate Juneteenth nationally gained steam in the wake of last years civil rights protests following the death of George Floyd.
*snip*
doc03
(35,389 posts)it considering today's Republican party.
tulipsandroses
(5,131 posts)Eh, can't say we never gave you anything.
Tell me when these same folks have the same support for ending systemic white supremacy.
Heck, some of these same folks don't want true history of slavery, Jim Crow, white supremacy and their ever lasting effects taught in schools. So call me a cynic, I am glad it passed but their vote doesn't mean a whole lot when they turn around support voter suppression and other tactics that discriminate against minorities.
Cornyn had the gall to say Dems against voter suppression were "playing the race card"
This IMO, fits into what they are good at. Playing mind games, to make it seem that they are not evil.
David__77
(23,558 posts)That is not what I would have guessed.
Progressive Jones
(6,011 posts)Northwinds
(18 posts)Most of the 14 no votes were because of the title of the Act.......the National Independence Day Act. We already have a National Independence Day. I think if it was called the Emancipation Day Act the vote would have been nearly unanimous
Klaralven
(7,510 posts)There were slaves in New Jersey until the 13th Amendment was ratified.
New Jersey had voted against ratification of the 13th Amendment, but later voted for ratification.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery_in_New_Jersey
Polybius
(15,510 posts)December 18th, 25, and January 1st.
Polybius
(15,510 posts)What were they thinking not to list them?