I wasn't going to do a post like this, but two things happened today which changed my mind:
The first thing was part of what made my day especially frustrating, running into a number of things which confounded my plans. The first was my weekly trip to the bank. I was denied due to a holiday which has no business existing except to pander to people outraged by a murder which never happened.
I had already brushed that inconvenience off when later in the day I came upon these two articles:
https://www.theblaze.com/columns/opinion/why-i-wont-celebrate-juneteenth-as-a-federal-holiday?tpcc=email
The first one above gives a good accounting of the stupidity of Biden's signing an equally stupid bi-partisan bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, thus pandering for votes from those eager to get paid for not working, with few among even the black community who was even aware of this bit of Texas history until race-baiters brought it up after lying about George Floyd being a victim of murder by cop and then burning cities and killing people. The political left beclowned themselves in pushing the false narratives (do they ever NOT do that?) and too many on the political right failed to muster the slightest courage to push back against it, and here we are. Another federal holiday which shouldn't be.
This second piece:
https://www.theblaze.com/fearless/whitlock-scrap-juneteenth-for-1865
...is from the wonderful Jason Whitlock, who doesn't suffer this kind of foolishness from the black community. In it, he states how little the day stood as one of importance in the minds of even some black Texans, never mind blacks in the rest of the country, until Floyd died by being a moron, not by being murdered by anyone.
Of course, this second piece is especially valuable because BVMLTT.
7 comments:
Here's another one for ya, Laddie!
https://www.westernjournal.com/trumps-juneteenth-comment-enrages-jimmy-kimmel-leftists/
Pride month, all about corporate pandering to the ABC folx. Kwanzaa is pandering to lord knows who. Juneteenth is definitely pandering, yet it does seem more worthy of recognition than some of the other pander days.
To acknowledge the day when Union soldiers finally forced the last democrats to free their slaves, finally putting an end to slavery (after hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded) based on a proclamation from a Republican seems especially relevant today.
The problem is that the event might be worthy of some acknowledgement, but the way it's celebrated is simply pandering.
Craig,
Gotta pick some nits here (I don't "gotta", but I'm gonna anyway). The Union troops traveling to Texas to bring and enforce the mandates of the Emancipation Proclamation merely informed the last Confederate state they had to give up their slaves. But the EP didn't end slavery throughout the Union. That happened later that year (Dec. 6,1865) with the ratification of the 13th Amendment. Just sayin'. To recognize the end of slavery with a special day, then, would make more sense if that day in December was chosen for the purpose. I don't think it needs to be a federal holiday, however, anymore than MLK JR's birthday should have been.
Glenn,
That Western Journal piece is a great addition to the other two I posted. It gives yet another slant pointing in the same direction. The added info regarding how in reading so many books by lefty authors on his way to his own history degree the date never came up is incredibly telling. It absolutely concludes in the most accurate way possible, exposing the truest reason why it's a holiday at all.
Interesting choice to get that nit picky when I'm essentially agreeing with you.
You'll note that I said "acknowledge" the date, which does not indicate that it should be a federal holiday.
You'll note that I was specific in pointing out which party clung to their slaves and which party gave them notice of their freedom.
Yeah, I get that the EP was somewhat of a cynical ploy by Lincoln to get some good press for essentially doing nothing.
Either day would make sense to recognize the end of slavery, although as you mentioned the EP didn't end slavery, while the action on June 19 was the final nail in the coffin of slavery in the US, so...
Of course, slavery still exists in the US and around the world, so maybe celebrating the end of something that didn't end isn't a good idea.
Maybe assuming that "acknowledge" and "make a federal holiday" are the same thing is not a great idea either.
FYI, I'm not a fan of adding official federal holidays anyway, and the fact that as they've added them simply means that businesses have to choose which ones they'll give time off for, makes absolutely no sense. Federal employees, banks, and the rest don't need any more federal holidays.
Please not the first lines of my response.
"Interesting choice to get that nit picky when I'm essentially agreeing with you."
I suggested "nit picking", but was more accurately merely bringing clarifying facts to the situation. Sorry for presuming I have liberty to do so.
"You'll note that I said "acknowledge" the date, which does not indicate that it should be a federal holiday."
I did, and that led me to provide the clarifying info, which showed that what was "acknowledged" wasn't accurate.
"You'll note that I was specific in pointing out which party clung to their slaves and which party gave them notice of their freedom."
I did indeed. It wasn't necessary to point it out here, as I regard it as a given. Of course, Dan could show up, so he needs to be reminded of that fact.
"Yeah, I get that the EP was somewhat of a cynical ploy by Lincoln to get some good press for essentially doing nothing."
You get it wrong, and it's worse than merely cynical in saying it did nothing, though it is that, too. The EP ended slavery in the Confederate states. It was specific for the purpose of not driving slave holding union states to join the rebellion.
"Either day would make sense to recognize the end of slavery, although as you mentioned the EP didn't end slavery, while the action on June 19 was the final nail in the coffin of slavery in the US, so..."
This is what I corrected, as the "final nail" was the 13th Amendment's ratification in Dec of that year.
"Of course, slavery still exists in the US and around the world, so maybe celebrating the end of something that didn't end isn't a good idea."
This is the sad truth, but Biden couldn't pander by acknowledging that, so he was wrong in many ways to federalize this holiday.
"Maybe assuming that "acknowledge" and "make a federal holiday" are the same thing is not a great idea either."
Assuming I made that assumption is worse.
"FYI, I'm not a fan of adding official federal holidays anyway, and the fact that as they've added them simply means that businesses have to choose which ones they'll give time off for, makes absolutely no sense. Federal employees, banks, and the rest don't need any more federal holidays."
Agreed.
"Please not the first lines of my response."
One thing I can acknowledge is that I don't understand this sentence.
You can do whatever you want, it's your blog. Because you can, doesn't mean that you should.
The "clarifying info" doesn't seem germane to the conversation. This post, if I'm not mistaken, was abut Juneteenth. That there is more context is a given, there is always more context. The reality is that Juneteenth is the day when the last vestiges of antebellum slavery were eliminated an is something that can be acknowledged. Does it need to be? No. Does that acknowledgement need to be a federal holiday? No.
Yes, I realize that Dan occasionally darkens the door here, I'm also noting the implicit irony inherent in the ASPL celebrating the GOP finally taking action to free the last democrat held slaves.
The EP "ended" slavery in the Confederate states where Lincoln technically did not have the power to do so. It, in fact, did not end slavery in the CSA as noted since slavery continued after Appomattox. At best the EP was an early step towards ending slavery that culminated in the 13th amendment. From what I've read it was as much about denying the south the slave labor necessary to support their war efforts as anything.
Regardless to whatever nitpicking you feel compelled to do, both events are noteworthy, the EP the first step to ending slavery in the south and June 19th the final act in that particular play. Of course, if acknowledging the end of slavery is the goal, wouldn't the ratification of the 13th amendment be as appropriate as any date?
It seems as though you are hung up on my acknowledgement that June 19th is a date where something of historical significance happened, and that it is not automatically problematic to acknowledge that fact.
While the 13th amendment's ratification did make slavery illegal, the events of June 19th marked to actual final date of slaves being held by the former confederacy. I could be wrong, but my sense is that you'd oppose a federal holiday marking the ratification of the 13th amendment as well. In reality any of these events (the EP, June 19th, 13th amendment) are all events that should be acknowledged as important in the fight to end slavery in the US. Pick one, or none, as the definitive date to acknowledge it. Or don't.
"Assuming I made that assumption is worse."
Given that you are the one who introduced the "federal holiday" issue in response to my suggesting that I had no problem "acknowledging" it is where I got confused. As I did not suggest a federal holiday, your "I don't think it needs to be a federal holiday," introduced something beyond the point I made.
The sentence should begin "Please note..." instead of "Please not...". I humbly apologize for missing the small typo. Of course, the point remains, the first lines of my first comment agree with your post. That I allowed some room within that agreement to "acknowledge" a day of some historical significance in some way, doesn't seem worthy of this response.
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