A proposal to make Juneteenth, commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, an official state holiday has gotten bipartisan support in the Kentucky Senate.
On Thursday, Gov. Andy Beshear signed a proclamation marking June 19, 2020 as Juneteenth National Freedom Day and encouraged lawmakers to adopt it as a state holiday in the next regular session.
“In recent months, we’ve faced troubling reminders that justice is not always blind,” Beshear said. “We’ve also seen the black and African American community suffer disproportionately from COVID-19. We have so much more to do to ensure that all men and women are treated equally, but today we can also commemorate how far we’ve come.”
On Friday, Senate Democratic and Republican leaders announced their support for a bill that would designate Juneteenth as a state holiday. It will be introduced during the 2021 regular session of the General Assembly.
Juneteenth is celebrated annually to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, the enslaved people of Galveston, TX finally received word of their freedom, two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
“As the birthplace of President Abraham Lincoln, it is only right that Kentucky recognizes the day that his Emancipation Proclamation reached the final corner of the former Confederate States and freed the last of the southern slaves,” said Senate President Robert Stivers (R-Manchester).
“I am so glad to see the Kentucky General Assembly come together to officially recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday and hope this is the first of many changes we make to battle systemic inequity,” said Minority Floor Leader Morgan McGarvey (D-Louisville).
The news was also welcomed by the chamber’s African-American members.
“Juneteenth underscores the continuing struggle to eliminate racial injustices in our society,” said Senator Gerald Neal (D-Louisville). “The Kentucky Senate is obligated to adopt policies to eradicate these disparities.”
“It is only appropriate that an Emancipation Day holiday be established in Kentucky honoring the freedom of all Black Americans and the end of the existence of slavery in this country,” said Senator Reggie Thomas (D-Lexington).
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Written by Tom Latek. Cross-posted from Kentucky Today.