The Problem with Juneteenth

June 20, 2024, 11:21 AM

Well, we can have Juneteenth and Pride Month at the same time.

Oakland residents held a celebration at Lake Merrett, a park where I used to play with my daughter. Five people were shot, and an undisclosed number of policemen were assaulted. And yes, AP described it as a "mostly peaceful" event.

June 20, 2024, 11:25 AM

corsair

quote:
Originally posted by Fredward:
Well, we can have Juneteenth and Pride Month at the same time.

Oakland residents held a celebration at Lake Merrett, a park where I used to play with my daughter. Five people were shot, and an undisclosed number of policemen were assaulted. And yes, AP described it as a "mostly peaceful" event.

https://x.com/nicksortor/statu...665750894284991?s=42

I think a celebration, a day marking the end of slavery is appropriate in this country.
The rub that many have is the event/day is used as a cudgel by the Progressive to discriminate and push their agenda rather than celebrate a landmark achievement in human history.
Cultural holidays are generally welcoming to everyone (Thanksgiving, St.Patrick's, Chinese New Year, etc), this 'holiday' has a lot of effort put out by its supports to lecture, scold and give lengthy monologues while simultaneously use legal-levers to enforce and demand recognition of its importance.

This is an example of taking what should be a good thing, and stretching it to the absurd:

U.S. civil rights icon Opal Lee brings her Juneteenth walk to Tokyo

quote:
Known as the "Grandmother of Juneteenth," her team hopes Opal's Walk for Freedom can become a borderless celebration

It’s not every day you meet a living Civil Rights legend. Hell, it’s not every year, decade or lifetime that you get to meet someone like Opal Lee — and in Japan, no less.
Last month, the 97-year-old Dr. Lee and her team made their way to Japan on a 10-day tour that included various talks, a fireside chat at the American Embassy and a Let’s Talk About It event put on by the Legacy Foundation Japan. That’s where I met her.

....

June 20, 2024, 11:55 AM

HRK

quote:
this 'holiday' has a lot of effort put out by its supports to lecture, scold and give lengthy monologues while simultaneously use legal-levers to enforce and demand ~~recognition of~~ reparations.

FIFY

June 20, 2024, 01:53 PM

shovelhead

Sorry, until I lived in the Southwest in the 80’s I never heard of Juneteenth. And I didn’t hear about it until I worked with a guy from west Texas.

June 20, 2024, 02:06 PM

PASig

No one ever heard of it outside one area in Texas where it was a minor regional holiday until President Pandering Joe and his handlers got involved.

June 20, 2024, 04:36 PM

senza nome

Where does Juneteenth fit within the ordinal numbers? Before or after nineteenth?

June 20, 2024, 04:47 PM

ibanda

I grew up in Texas and have known about Juneteenth since the 1970s. If you drove by a city park near a black neighborhood you would see a large peaceful gathering having a barbecue. I think it is an important regional historical event and should be recognized exactly as it was.

I didn't think Congress/Senate/Biden needed to turn it into a national holiday.

June 20, 2024, 05:11 PM

sjtill

quote:
I'd also be tempted to ask if they know what a "cheap fake" is

That's the guy we see on TV crapping in his Depends.

June 20, 2024, 07:12 PM

RogueJSK

quote:
Originally posted by PASig:
No one ever heard of it outside one area in Texas where it was a minor regional holiday until President Pandering Joe and his handlers got involved.

Well, except Florida, where it was also recognized in 1991. And Oklahoma in 1994. And Minnesota in 1996. And Delaware in 2000. And Idaho and Oregon in 2001. And California, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, and Missouri in 2003. And Colorado, New Jersey, and New York in 2004. And New Mexico and Ohio in 2006. And Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington in 2007. And Nebraska in 2009. And Georgia, Maine, and Nevada in 2011. And Maryland in 2014. And Utah in 2016. And Pennsylvania in 2019.

Oh, and don't forget President Trump endorsing making it a national holiday back in 2020.

But yes, other than that, definitely nobody had heard of it outside of Texas until 2021 when Biden became President and dreamed it all up.

Nevermind the additional fact that it wasn't enacted by some Presidential proclamation, but rather a bill introduced by legislators in Congress where they voted nearly unanimously to adopt it as a federal holiday. (100-0 in the Senate, and 415-14 in the House.)

You can blame Biden for a whole lot. But "inventing a holiday out of thin air" isn't one of them.

June 20, 2024, 11:00 PM

PASig

quote:
Originally posted by RogueJSK:

You can blame Biden for a whole lot. But "inventing a holiday out of thin air" isn't one of them.

Dude. You cannot seriously be simping for Joe Biden right now.

I never said he invented anything. I said he took a minor regional holiday that I still maintain very few people ever heard of, and turned it into a national one with one goal in mind; to pander.

June 21, 2024, 06:29 AM

Bassamatic

quote:
Originally posted by RogueJSK:

Well, except Florida, where it was also recognized in 1991. And Oklahoma in 1994. And Minnesota in 1996. And Delaware in 2000. And Idaho and Oregon in 2001. And California, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, and Missouri in 2003. And Colorado, New Jersey, and New York in 2004. And New Mexico and Ohio in 2006. And Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington in 2007. And Nebraska in 2009. And Georgia, Maine, and Nevada in 2011. And Maryland in 2014. And Utah in 2016. And Pennsylvania in 2019.

Oh, and don't forget President Trump endorsing making it a national holiday back in 2020.

But yes, other than that, definitely nobody had heard of it outside of Texas until 2021 when Biden became President and dreamed it all up.

Nevermind the additional fact that it wasn't enacted by some Presidential proclamation, but rather a bill introduced by legislators in Congress where they voted nearly unanimously to adopt it as a federal holiday. (100-0 in the Senate, and 415-14 in the House.)

You can blame Biden for a whole lot. But "inventing a holiday out of thin air" isn't one of them.

Yeah, I've lived in Missouri since 1999 and I have never heard of this stupid holiday. I consider myself to fairly well read.

June 21, 2024, 06:34 AM

SevenPlusOne

It's no dumber than Columbus Day (pandering to WOPs).

June 21, 2024, 07:46 AM

RogueJSK

quote:
Originally posted by PASig:

Dude. You cannot seriously be simping for Joe Biden right now.

I never said he invented anything. I said he took a minor regional holiday that I still maintain very few people ever heard of, and turned it into a national one with one goal in mind; to pander.

No "simping" involved. Just stating facts.

While it was just a Texas thing for most of the 1900s, it wasn't just a regional holiday by the 2000s. It was recognized by a majority of the states years before Congress (not the President) chose to codify it as a national holiday in 2021.

It's ok to be wrong, or to have not heard of something. That doesn't make it Biden's fault.

June 21, 2024, 08:12 AM

hjs157

quote:
Originally posted by SevenPlusOne:
It's no dumber than Columbus Day (pandering to WOPs).

Is WOP now considered an internet friendly euphemism for dago?

June 21, 2024, 08:19 AM

selogic

It's right up there with " Pride month " . Another seized opportunity to pander to a group of voters .

June 21, 2024, 10:12 AM

Milliron

quote:
Originally posted by SevenPlusOne:
It's no dumber than Columbus Day (pandering to WOPs).

Yes, in the great scheme of Federal holidays, I find it to be worthier than some. Though I do rather think it should supplant MLK Day (with no disparagement to the Rev., I like to think he'd agree).

_________________________

"Age does not bring wisdom. Often it merely changes simple stupidity into arrogant conceit. It's only advantage, so far as I have been able to see, is that it spans change. A young person sees the world as a still picture, immutable. An old person has had his nose rubbed in changes and more changes and still more changes so many times that that he knows it is a moving picture, forever changing. He may not like it--probably doesn't; I don't--but he knows it's so, and knowing is the first step in coping with it."

Robert Heinlein

June 21, 2024, 10:12 AM

Tuckerrnr1

With
Out
Papers

That probably covered a lot of different people.

June 21, 2024, 10:30 AM

229DAK

quote:
Originally posted by corsair:
This is an example of taking what should be a good thing, and stretching it to the absurd:

U.S. civil rights icon Opal Lee brings her Juneteenth walk to Tokyo
Known as the "Grandmother of Juneteenth," her team hopes Opal's Walk for Freedom can become a borderless celebration

It’s not every day you meet a living Civil Rights legend. Hell, it’s not every year, decade or lifetime that you get to meet someone like Opal Lee — and in Japan, no less.
Last month, the 97-year-old Dr. Lee and her team made their way to Japan on a 10-day tour that included various talks, a fireside chat at the American Embassy and a Let’s Talk About It event put on by the Legacy Foundation Japan. That’s where I met her.

Maybe she could take her fireside chats across the waters to Li'l Kim's fireplace? You know, freedom from slavery and all that.