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

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

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Gotta admit I didn't know what Juneteenth was.
  1. a holiday celebrated on June 19 to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the US. The holiday was first celebrated in Texas, where on that date in 1865, in the aftermath of the Civil War, enslaved people were declared free under the terms of the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation.

    Congress just voted to make it a US Federal holiday, which really doesn't mean much. States enact how they wish to celebrate it, or not.

  2. What do you think?
 

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.
 
Llynn said:
I think we have too many holidays already,
.....and get off my lawn.
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I agree with Llynn. There are just way too many special days and special holidays. It's got me so confused that I just ignore those days. Anyway, what is a holiday these days? People just cut their lawns or go shopping. For me, my holidays are Christmas, Easter, July 1 for Canadians & Thanksgiving even though the politically correct out there are trying to tell me that Christmas should me called a "Winter Festival" and Easter should be called, "Spring Festival." Not while I'm still breathing, partner! I don't need the rest. Maybe it's something the politicians dream up to keep us from thinking about the real issues of national debt, crime, guns, crazy traffic, poverty, etc.
 
We pay little attention to the "holidays"....other than Christmas and Thanksgiving, when we have a nice get together with the kids. If it's not too hot, we sometimes go to a nearby town to see their 4th of July fireworks display. Other than that, we usually stay home and avoid the excessive traffic, etc. "Juneteenth"???...I'd ignore.
 
I don't think Halloween and Valentine's Day are holidays.

Maybe not Federal / paid time off holidays, but they're celebrated as such.

Amazing how much revenue they generate for Hallmark, florists and candy companies
 
SmoothSeas said:
I don't think Halloween and Valentine's Day are holidays.

Maybe not Federal / paid time off holidays, but they're celebrated as such.

Amazing how much revenue they generate for Hallmark, florists and candy companies
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So re: your comment that they represent examples of the kind of holidays that there are too many of, do you advocate getting rid of them?

The way I see it, they are there just for fun, commercialization and increased corporate profits notwithstanding. I wouldn't want to see them go away. We need as many fun, light-hearted distractions from the crappiness of everyday reality as we can get.

As far as there being too many holidays in terms of ACTUAL (paid days off) holidays, I think we are at our limit of what's necessary.
 
It may surprise a great many people to learn that the USA has fewer holidays than most countries throughout the world.

As for Juneteenth, yes, let's celebrate. After all, we celebrate July 4th and Cinco de Mayo as days of liberation. We celebrate Armistice Day to celebrate freedom from war. We celebrate Labor Day to celebrate freedom from economic oppression. So why not a day of freedom from slavery and its horrible consequences?

Yes, Juneteenth should be a national Holiday. The entire world should celebrate it or have their own days when their laws forbade slavery and serfdom.
 
oldiebutgoody said:
It may surprise a great many people to learn that the USA has fewer holidays than most countries throughout the world.

As for Juneteenth, yes, let's celebrate. After all, we celebrate July 4th and Cinco de Mayo as days of liberation. We celebrate Armistice Day to celebrate freedom from war. We celebrate Labor Day to celebrate freedom from economic oppression. So why not a day of freedom from slavery and its horrible consequences?

Yes, Juneteenth should be a national Holiday. The entire world should celebrate it or have their own days when their laws forbade slavery and serfdom.
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Cinco de Mayo is not an "official" paid holiday either.

I think the push is to make Juneteenth an official paid holiday.

I don't think that is necessary.

Let's be honest here.... Juneteenth is a black people's occasion and if made an official holiday, it would be done to appease, not because the rest of us are so respectful of the sacrifice of slaves, etc.

I'm all for anyone who wants to, to celebrate Juneteenth in any way they personally wish to. But forcing employers to shut down and pay their employees for yet another day off is a bad idea, IMO.

Plus, I think it's getting high time we put all that stuff in the past where it belongs. Not forget about it, but stop inflaming the bad feelings it foments by not letting it die.

Just living the life of freedom and equality we ALL share and enjoy today in 2021, is enough of a celebration of freedom.
 
I have a feeling that there would be a huge variety of observance of this holiday. Probably the deep south would mostly ignore it.

I remember back when Lincoln's Birthday (Feb. 12) was an official holiday, most of the states that formed the Confederacy just ignored it, and went on with business as usual.
 
Jim W. said:
Cinco de Mayo is not an "official" paid holiday either.

I think the push is to make Juneteenth an official paid holiday.

I don't think that is necessary.

Let's be honest here.... Juneteenth is a black people's occasion and if made an official holiday, it would be done to appease, not because the rest of us are so respectful of the sacrifice of slaves, etc.

I'm all for anyone who wants to, to celebrate Juneteenth in any way they personally wish to. But forcing employers to shut down and pay their employees for yet another day off is a bad idea, IMO.

Plus, I think it's getting high time we put all that stuff in the past where it belongs. Not forget about it, but stop inflaming the bad feelings it foments by not letting it die.

Just living the life of freedom and equality we ALL share and enjoy today in 2021, is enough of a celebration of freedom.
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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.
 
Jim W. said:
But forcing employers to shut down and pay their employees for yet another day off is a bad idea, IMO.
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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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