Do you think "Jeneteenth" should be a US Federal holiday?

officerripley said:
I disagree: to me and I assume to others, Juneteenth is NOT just a "black people's occasion" and I for one am "respectful of the sacrifice of slaves." Never forget: when a sacrifice is FORCED on someone, at the very least everyone's attention needs to be paid to it if not respected. "Just living the life of freedom and equlity we ALL share and enjoy today"?! Seriously?! Nope, nope, nope; I really disagree with ya there; good grief.
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oldiebutgoody said:
We do so for Christmas and Easter even though many Americans are not Christian. Come to think of it, we do the same for January 1 which is the first day of the year in the Christian calendar. Nobody objects when that happens. I certainly don't.

There's nothing inflammatory about celebrating a day which honors the liberation of a significant portion of the American population. We celebrate Memorial Day to honor those who died in the Civil War. Let's honor those who died because of the war's origin as well.
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All a matter of opinion.

In all honesty, I still believe it is primarily a black people's occasion. How many white families have you ever known who have a decades long history of celebrating Juneteenth in their households? And please don't tell me you know several because I'll tell you right now I will not believe it.

Personally, I don't believe that 1 out of 10 white people truly cared about or even heard of Juneteenth prior to it becoming an issue.

Understand... I am not knocking the celebration or the legitimacy of it. I just don't feel that we need another national holiday, if for no other reason than.... when does it end?

Whose holiday will be told we have to celebrate next?

BTW, Christmas, New Year and Easter are celebrated all over the world, not just in America as this proposed holiday would be. Those two holidays transcend nationality and span the entire globe.
 
SmoothSeas said:
Corporate America is gonna balk, but I'd tend to be in favor of it,

I remember back when Doctor King was acknowledged with His day, When that was granted, they saw fit to combine both Lincoln and Washington into one. Working folk lost one paid holiday.

Election Day should be another Federal holiday, as well - IMO.
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"Election Day should be another Federal holiday, as well - IMO."

I agree, so long as it means the whole election week & election month thing is dropped.
 
rgp said:
"Election Day should be another Federal holiday, as well - IMO."

I agree, so long as it means the whole election week & election month thing is dropped.
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I could see giving everyone election day off in order to facilitate voting, but what about the service industry which pretty much does not close?

Convenience store/gas station employees, hospital employees, first responders, etc, etc.
 
caroln said:
Well, how about August 18th, the day women got the right to vote? That should be a holiday. It was the beginning of the end of women's slavery, entitling all women to all the rights of citizenship.
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Women's slavery really? Were white women chained and made to work and beaten? Given small rations of food and raped by their masters? Paired up with which ever man (slave) the owners wanted them mated to in order to produce a certain physical trait or color type? Were their children taken and sold?

"At the behest of Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY), in 1971 and passed in 1973, the U.S. Congress designated August 26 as “Women's Equality Day.” The date was selected to commemorate the 1920 certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote."
 
officerripley said:
I disagree: to me and I assume to others, Juneteenth is NOT just a "black people's occasion" and I for one am "respectful of the sacrifice of slaves." Never forget: when a sacrifice is FORCED on someone, at the very least everyone's attention needs to be paid to it if not respected. "Just living the life of freedom and equlity we ALL share and enjoy today"?! Seriously?! Nope, nope, nope; I really disagree with ya there; good grief.
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" NOT just a "black people's occasion"

I agree. What about the many who fought and died for freedom, not just black people. We should take a day to celebrate the end of slavery.

Anyone not wanting to celebrate it, simple don't, do whatever.
 
"In all honesty, I still believe it is primarily a black people's occasion. How many white families have you ever known who have a decades long history of celebrating Juneteenth in their households? And please don't tell me you know several because I'll tell you right now I will not believe it."

Don't care what you believe, many families are bi-racial and yes the white side celebrate. I have 2 bi-racial grandsons.
Many white people respect and celebrate it.
 
Becky1951 said:
Women's slavery really? Were white women chained and made to work and beaten? Given small rations of food and raped by their masters? Paired up with which ever man (slave) the owners wanted them mated to in order to produce a certain physical trait or color type? Were their children taken and sold?

"At the behest of Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY), in 1971 and passed in 1973, the U.S. Congress designated August 26 as “Women's Equality Day.” The date was selected to commemorate the 1920 certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote."
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I'm fairly certain that many, many years ago, a lot of white women were de facto slaves... many of them chained, made to work, under fed, raped and beaten.

But again.... how many commemorative days would some have us celebrate?

Would black people be OK with, instead of Juneteenth, having a day to celebrate the independence and freedom from slavery of ALL people of all races and genders?

Or would they insist upon Juneteenth being celebrated specifically and being about freedom from slavery of black people only?
 
"Would black people be OK with, instead of Juneteenth, having a day to celebrate the independence and freedom from slavery of ALL people of all races and genders?"

I don't know, have they all been asked?

That would be awesome, however that hasn't been suggested and been out forth for a vote, Juneteenth has been and that's the discussion here.
 
Becky1951 said:
Women's slavery really? Were white women chained and made to work and beaten? Given small rations of food and raped by their masters? Paired up with which ever man (slave) the owners wanted them mated to in order to produce a certain physical trait or color type? Were their children taken and sold?

"At the behest of Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY), in 1971 and passed in 1973, the U.S. Congress designated August 26 as “Women's Equality Day.” The date was selected to commemorate the 1920 certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote."
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Excerpt from Harvard Law: "These marriage and property laws, or "coverture," stipulated that a married woman did not have a separate legal existence from her husband. A married woman or feme covert was a dependent, like an underage child or a slave, and could not own property in her own name or control her own earnings, except under very specific circumstances. When a husband died, his wife could not be the guardian to their under-age children."
It goes on, but you get the gist. Maybe the slavery took a different form, but women were treated as nothing but chattels for eons. I'm not saying slaves didn't deserve to be freed, but so did women in general.
 
How about a federal holiday to recognize the disservice done to the indigenous people whose ranks are slowly fading here in the USA? True, they did kill a lot of European settlers back in the day but if we're making up holidays for people who've had a rough time of things then I think that our indigenous people deserve one too. It's not like they have an entire month that honors them nor a college fund and colleges that are designed specifically for them either, among other amenities some groups of people are allowed. Why not have a holiday for Japanese Americans because some were unjustly interred during WWII? Juneteenth is just like The 'N' word, no one, not black, actually says their true thoughts out loud or the word but everyone knows what's meant by such things. It's just driving the wedge between us all a little deeper in my personal opinion.
 
Since I am the product of two rather diverse cultures should I demand that America must celebrate with me twice? Absolutely not. Not even once. I feel that a national holiday Federally recognized or not should encompass all races, colors and creeds for an accomplishment all could share in happiness, not the misery and suffering of one particular group targeted by another group or groups. IMHO holidays be they celebrated as happy occasions or occasions of national accomplishment would be more productive towards cultural understanding. So with that having been said if any one particular race wants to celebrate their own holiday they should have the freedom to do so without other races being shamed for not celebrating it or even not even knowing of it's existence. Thanks for reading.
 
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Jim W. said:
I'm fairly certain that many, many years ago, a lot of white women were de facto slaves... many of them chained, made to work, under fed, raped and beaten.

But again.... how many commemorative days would some have us celebrate?

Would black people be OK with, instead of Juneteenth, having a day to celebrate the independence and freedom from slavery of ALL people of all races and genders?

Or would they insist upon Juneteenth being celebrated specifically and being about freedom from slavery of black people only?
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Well, they might for the celebrations here in the U.S. since the U.S. leads the way in modern times for the running of slavery. Heck the Nazis made no secret of their admiration for how the American South, even after Abolition, treated Black people, the Nuremberg Codes, etc. (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/11/what-america-taught-the-nazis/540630/) You know, Germany has mostly admitted the atrocities they perpetrated under Nazi regime; school kids in Germany for years, at least in high school are taught all about it and shown pictures of the dead and starving in the concentration camps; while some here in the U.S. are throwing silly fits and foaming at the mouth over critical race theory; unbelievable.
 
Some people here are under the illusion that there are too many holidays in the USA. But as I mentioned previously, the USA has the LEAST amount of holidays. The last company I worked for only gave us 7 paid days off for holidays. By contrast, in France, they have 32 paid days off:

Which country in the EU has the most annual holidays? | data.europa.eu


Therefore, the argument that there are too many days off doesn't wash. We need MORE days off. Juneteenth is one fine example.

Previously it was asked if a day off for women could be celebrated as a paid holiday. I say, why not? And while we're at it, let's have a national bachelor's day as well.
 
Becky1951 said:
"Would black people be OK with, instead of Juneteenth, having a day to celebrate the independence and freedom from slavery of ALL people of all races and genders?"

I don't know, have they all been asked?

That would be awesome, however that hasn't been suggested and been out forth for a vote, Juneteenth has been and that's the discussion here.
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Well can you then tell us what you think regarding what their reaction would be and why?

I think they would not be OK with it because I think they are by and large only interested in being recognized yet again, on top of Black History Month, MLK Day, Black College Reunion, black scholarship funds, etc, etc.
 
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oldiebutgoody said:
Some people here are under the illusion that there are too many holidays in the USA. But as I mentioned previously, the USA has the LEAST amount of holidays. The last company I worked for only gave us 7 paid days off for holidays. By contrast, in France, they have 32 paid days off:

Which country in the EU has the most annual holidays? | data.europa.eu


Therefore, the argument that there are too many days off doesn't wash. We need MORE days off. Juneteenth is one fine example.

Previously it was asked if a day off for women could be celebrated as a paid holiday. I say, why not? And while we're at it, let's have a national bachelor's day as well.
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So wait.... you're saying that because France has over a month of paid holidays per year, that is somehow "proof" that America has too few and needs more???

I don't get your reasoning at all.

Sounds to me like all you're interested in is getting more free time off work. ;)
 
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Jim W. said:
Well can you then tell us what you think regarding what their reaction would be and why?

I think they would not be OK with it because I think they are by and large only interested in being recognized yet again, on top of Black History Month, MLK Day, Black College Reunion, black scholarship funds, etc, etc.
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I think some people would be ok with it, some wouldn't care, some wouldn't like it.
Why? Because just like every group of people there are different differences of opinions.
 


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