Sweet. Congress just designated Juneteenth, the 19th of June, as a federal holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. President Biden plans to sign the bill today.
It’s nice how U.S. lawmakers were able to officially acknowledge the end of slavery, only 156 years after the done deed, without the turmoil and expense of reparations or defunding the police. Our elected officials are models of efficiency, when they decide to work together in a nonpartisan* way.
Yes. Enough Republicans jumped on board to make the new federal holiday happen. Thankfully, changing the name of a post office, or declaring a new holiday, doesn’t cost wealthy donors any money! The entire duopoly was pleased about that.
White supremacist groups are probably unhappy, though. They don’t have a symbolic federal holiday of their own. (Yet, that is. Maybe some time in August?)
Seriously. What I’m saying is this: turning Juneteenth into a federal holiday is a small concession to the black community. It’s a nod to human rights, of course. But rights don’t have “teeth” without economic justice. Why do you think The Elites are fixated on maximizing their own wealth, yet care little that regular people enjoy a degree of comfort and financial flexibility? (They don’t want to share power.)
Nevertheless, I’m eager to celebrate the first-ever federal Juneteenth holiday this Saturday. I’ll prepare a dazzling holiday vegan dish for the occasion. Symbolic days possess a dash of people-power, after all, when we gather together.
Happy Juneteenth to everyone — black, white, purple and green! It’s a day to honor and thank the black community and its leaders for pushing, activating, and improving the principle of American democracy. Let’s acknowledge the hard-fought progress that has been made, and keep moving forward.
* “Nonpartisan” is D.C. code that means unified support of the wealthy corporate state.
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