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Should it be a national holiday? And a real one, like banks closed + no mail, holiday?

Or, perhaps, Emancipation Day? (April 16th, iirc).

This is the day the EP was signed, yes?

GORDON wrote: This is the day the EP was signed, yes?

The EP was signed January 1, 1863. April 16th, 1862 was Emancipation Day, which only applied to Washington, DC. Juneteenth was actually June 19th, 1865, when slaves in Texas finally got freed.

Ahhhhhh.

My history prof was sure to point out, "The signing of the EP didn't actually free anyone."

I figure if we get to celebrate Independence day then African Americans should get a day to celebrate their independence as well.

I don't have a problem with it, and it shouldn't matter if I did.

Meh. Independence day is something that the whole country can participate in. This is something only black people can. In 100 years, when poc are the majority, will there be rallies to end the racist juneteenth holiday that only recognizes the people in power? Christmas and Easter holidays have been renamed to winter and 'some other' break so there weren't just about the Christians. Thanksgiving? Whole country. Memorial/Labor day, all inclusive. I think we should shy away from forcing the entire nation to celebrate a specific race/gender/group.

Saw something written about someone writing "White lives matter" on a statue of a black man. My thought was "Are we sure he never did ANYTHING to offend someone else that he should be deserving of a statue?". I know MANY of the statues being questioned are of people with VERY dubious pasts. But not all of them. And, I'm sorry, but I think some actions can outweigh bad choices made at the time.

Ya. I don't know. It's almost to the point where no one, or nothing can be celebrated because it will in someway offend someone.

I don't have a problem with Juneteenth being a holiday. But it also doesn't apply to me. So, how should I celebrate it? What's the proper way? And it just feels a little hypocritical.

Cakedaddy wrote: Independence day is something that the whole country can participate in.

Unless your ancestors were slaves, I mean, it didn't really mean shit to those people.

Cakedaddy wrote: So, how should I celebrate it? What's the proper way? And it just feels a little hypocritical.

Dreaming of getting gang banged by a bunch of black dudes.

Somebody said all these people pushing Juneteenth are like Luke sneering at Han for not believing in the Force, when Luke only learned about it like a day ago.

thibodeaux wrote: Somebody said all these people pushing Juneteenth are like Luke sneering at Han for not believing in the Force, when Luke only learned about it like a day ago.

Probably true, after all, Trump only recently made it famous.
I grew up in the South.

You could also throw out December 6th (ratification of the 13th amendment, finally ending slavery for those not covered by the Emancipation Proclamation) as a possible holiday date.

I learned about it when I was 30, in 2000.

GORDON wrote: I learned about it when I was 30, in 2000.

Pretty sure I learned in college. I remember explaining it to my wife last year when we drove through the African American part of my parent's town around June 19th, though. Oh, midwesterners.

Cakedaddy wrote: Saw something written about someone writing "White lives matter" on a statue of a black man. My thought was "Are we sure he never did ANYTHING to offend someone else that he should be deserving of a statue?".

He was a black tennis player who died of AIDS.

His wiki doesn't have a "controversy" section.

I knew about it as a kid, but I'm from rural Louisiana right next to Texas. Lots of our local blacks had relatives in Houston and Dallas. That said, I never actually witnessed anybody celebrating it. The only time it was ever mentioned was my dad related a story: My dad was sales manager at a car dealership and one day one of his (black) salesmen said, "We got more black people out here [looking at cars] than Juneteenth"

TheCatt wrote: Unless your ancestors were slaves, I mean, it didn't really mean shit to those people.

I don't think my ancestors were here until after the revolution as well. So it doesn't mean shit to me? I kind of consider myself an American, so I feel like its holidays apply to me. Even though we didn't have anyone here when it was all being created.

My ancestors were brought to Georgia in the 1700s as indentured servants. We're pre-Revolution. And I want you fuckers who weren't indentured servants to acknowledge your privilege.

Some of my ancestors arrived in the 1700s. As far as I know, we were not indentured servants, but I'm honestly not too sure what they did, how they got here, etc.

Cakedaddy wrote:

TheCatt wrote: Unless your ancestors were slaves, I mean, it didn't really mean shit to those people.

I don't think my ancestors were here until after the revolution as well. So it doesn't mean shit to me? I kind of consider myself an American, so I feel like its holidays apply to me. Even though we didn't have anyone here when it was all being created.

That's up to you. I was referring only to slaves ancestry.

Cakedaddy wrote:

TheCatt wrote: Unless your ancestors were slaves, I mean, it didn't really mean shit to those people.

I don't think my ancestors were here until after the revolution as well. So it doesn't mean shit to me? I kind of consider myself an American, so I feel like its holidays apply to me. Even though we didn't have anyone here when it was all being created.

Frederick Douglass had an opinion.

I wonder how Frederick Douglass would feel knowing protesters tore down his statue.