Black members of Congress from Ohio talk about issues and advancements since the founding of the Juneteenth commemoration.
Washington, D.C. The nation’s final Black slaves did not break free from their bonds until over two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, on June 19, 1865, some months after the Civil War’s conclusion, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas.
Over 150 years later, it took a determined effort by Congressional Black Caucus members, like as Joyce Beatty of Ohio, to pass legislation commemorating that event by establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday that falls on June 19 of each year. Prior to then, it was observed as an official state holiday or observance in 47 states as well as the District of Columbia. The first state to accomplish this was Texas in 1980.
Beatty, a Democrat from Columbus who presided over the legislative Black Caucus at the time the measure was passed, claims that her group collaborated with legislative leaders to move the legislation through Congress in 2021 and secure President Joe Biden’s signature. The movement gained impetus due to racial unrest and the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that followed George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police in 2020.
Beatty and her crew also visited with 89-year-old Texas activist Opal Lee, who had been fighting for the holiday for years. Among her efforts were an 89-year-old trek from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C. to raise awareness of her cause, as well as an online petition with more than 1.5 million signatures.
Juneteenth is “one of the few national occasions to consider our past and renew our commitment to enacting our democratic ideals, especially in the areas of justice, civil rights, and DE&I (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), which are fundamental to a genuinely pluralistic society,” according to Beatty.
Beatty sees the holiday as a means of encouraging DEI initiatives and teaching people about the history of the country. She compares the efforts made during the era of slavery to keep Black people uneducated to the conservative pushback against DEI. According to her, DEI training is seen by “MAGA Republicans” as “a threat to their existence.”
Beatty asks, “Why were people so afraid of an educated Black person?” “The explanation is that power exists where knowledge does, and as long as ignorance could keep us apart, we posed no threat.”
Although she is happy that the Black Lives Matter movement encouraged businesses to donate billions of dollars to help minority communities and DEI initiatives, she is dissatisfied that just a small portion of those funds have really been used.
