I pulled up to the drive-through window at the bank last week and a sign was posted in the window. The bank was going to be closed on Monday, June 20th because of the new Juneteenth holiday.
But wait a minute! Juneteenth falls on June 19th-- i.e., Sunday. But the travel industry long ago had lobbied with the federal government to have holidays fall on Monday to create a 3-day weekend when many people would be more likely to travel. So the "'...teenth" was celebrated on the 20th. Of course, it was mostly governmental employees and bank employees who got the day off.
But think about it. This creates three 3-day weekends in a short period of 6 weeks. Aside from the impacts on work output and productivity, there are other issues with creating a superfluous holiday.
African-Americans already have a holiday dedicated to their historic struggles with MLK day in January, which also falls on a Monday. Never mind that Martin Luther King, Jr. was an immoral man who embraced socialism during his latter years. It is still maintained that his memory merits a holiday in his name.
But it turns out that "Juneteenth" is also suspect as an event justifying a holiday. Although it is represented as marking the end of slavery, in fact, it did not.
Slaves in the North were not freed with the Emancipation Proclamation. And emancipation truly did not occur until the passage of the 13th Amendment, which occurred much later.
But I suppose we can enjoy going through the motions to appease an aggrieved minority and to get another holiday.
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