Thoughts on Juneteenth Becoming a Federal Holiday

Today, President Biden signed Juneteenth into law, making it a federal holiday effective immediately. Biden's signature comes only days after the Senate unanimously agreed with all but 14 House Republican members in agreement. Here is what I wrote on the subject on June 19, 2020:

I'm sure a Republican Senator (John Cornyn) and a Republican President would like to take credit for establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday. Of course, Trump has odiously claimed he made Juneteenth famous. However, Trump needs something about which he can genuinely brag and if he signs a law enacting Juneteenth as a federal holiday he will brag about it from now until November.

But if this doesn't to come pass and this November sees the election of Joe Biden and a Democratic majority in both Houses then it will certainly come to pass sometime in 2021 with an effective date of no later than June 19, 2022. 

Had President Trump signed it into a law a year ago, his acolytes would be praising him to the sky. But that it was left to President Biden to get this done his acolytes condemn it as unAmerican and an affront notwithstanding the fact most Republican officials are supportive of it. 

Nevertheless it was in this context that I posed the question if Juneteenth and the Fourth of July can co-exist. Frederick Douglass could both admire the authors of the Declaration of Independence while mourning the Fourth of July. Frederick Douglass also hated the sin of slavery but did not hate those who committed the sin namely Thomas Jefferson. 

As such I believe it is possible to observe both Juneteenth and the Fourth of July. But it won't be easy. Because to do so takes introspection and nuance and these virtues are in very short supply. It is in short supply among those who worship at the altar of Trump and wish to replace democracy with cult of personality authoritarianism. It is also in short supply among left-wing activists who would expunge every vestige of American history - good, bad and ugly.

It will require time for Juneteenth and the Fourth of July to stand side by side and it remains to be seen if time is on our side.