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

[CarolfromTX]

I have a feeling that there would be a huge variety of observance of this holiday. Probably the deep south would mostly ignore it.

Really? Cuz it’s a pretty big deal here in Texas. Celebrations in the city park and such. I’m all for making it a federal holiday.

 

[AnnieA]

Why don't we have a national holiday for stopping to crap all over our native Americans? Oh, I forgot we haven't stopped.

Exactly. Black reparations talk online so often cites "what the Native Americans get" as justification. No one who has actually visited a reservation without casino income (and some with) wants what they get. I'm all for Juneteenth and honoring freedom, but the "the US is what it is today due to slavery" narrative completely overshadows the horrific suffering of past and a good many present Native Americans.

 

[HoneyNut]

I hadn't heard of Juneteenth before this year and I don't have any idea of how to celebrate it. Are there traditional foods? To my emotions a holiday is a menu, so while I would love any excuse for a day off of work (not that I have any expectation that the cheapo corporations will give another holiday because they have reduced them throughout my career), without a specific set of food items a day off is not a real holiday to me.
So far this holiday has added greatly to my stress because at work the suddenness of a new holiday meant we had to put emergency fixes into a lot of applications. All the extra work and stress made me grouchy and now I'm spending my weekend feeling embarrassed at my snippiness with my teammates and lead yesterday. I think I'm lacking in emotional intelligence or something. I'm telling myself it is the fault of hot weather or pollen, it can't be personal inadequacy!

 

[Serenity4321]

I think we need to be careful with paid holidays but certainly, 6/19 is a day that should be noted and celebrated...

 

[caroln]

Amen. But then the candy factories, flower industry, and Pubs would all go belly-up

Not to mention, if St. Patrick's day was abolished, no green river in Chicago or green beer being served. That would be sad.

Oh, and no green milk shakes at McDonalds.

 

[Packerjohn]

A holiday should always be a special day but beware of overkill. If you have some sort of "pretend" holiday 365 days out of the year, you have overkill and everyone will ignore your special day. Where do we stop with these special days: Black power day, healthy eating day, dog lover's day, cat lover's day, farming day, appreciate your teacher day, respect senior citizens day (I really like that one), love your neighbour day, native American/Canadian day, rainbow day, plant a tree day, shop until you drop day, etc?