Santa Clara County has officially declared Juneteenth a paid holiday for county workers.
Following months of renewed scrutiny of systemic racism in the Bay Area and nationwide, the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday to deem June 19th as “Juneteenth Day” to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States and honor African American history, allowing workers to take the day off.
“This holiday is really an important reminder that America must never forget how enslaved African Americans and their descendants have shaped, and continue to shape, the contributions to this nation,” said President Cindy Chavez before the vote. “Commemorating Juneteenth in the county as a holiday will urge us to have further conversations and actions to address the origins and consequences of racism.”
Black communities have long gathered for festivals, cookouts and marches to honor June 19, 1865, when word of slavery’s end made its way to Galveston, Texas — more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Although almost all states recognize the day in some form — often as an unpaid holiday — many local governments do not. Tuesday’s vote makes Santa Clara the first California county to declare Juneteenth a county holiday; funding will stem from a $2.3 million reserve the board approved in August.
Supervisor Dave Cortese pushed for the designation after thousands took to the streets on June 19th this year in San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco, capping weeks of heated anti-police brutality protests first sparked by the police killing of Minneapolis man George Floyd.
The board previously considered other ways of acknowledging slavery’s end, including a “floating” holiday that could be applied to other dates. Public speakers and community organizations pushed back on that concept during discussions this summer, arguing that June 19th itself deserved unwavering recognition.
“This is not something that we want to substitute as a floating date or simply be replaced with someone else,” said Sasha Richardson, a community worker with the African American Community Service Agency. “Juneteenth is needed to make us closer and build that strong bond of understanding.”
The Link LonkSeptember 23, 2020 at 02:39AM
https://ift.tt/32U8nop
Santa Clara County declares Juneteenth a holiday - The Mercury News
https://ift.tt/2QoXNjh
Holiday
No comments:
Post a Comment