BLACK TWITTER TO JUNETEENTH’S NEW LEGISLATION
Juneteenth has been unofficially celebrated every year on June 19. That all changed this year when President Joe Biden signed the bill that passed both the House and Senate. People all around the world had mixed emotions about President Biden’s initiative, especially Black Twitter.
“It’s great, but it’s not enough,” said Gwen Grant, president, and CEO of the Urban League of Kansas City. Grant said she was delighted by the quick vote this week by both chambers of Congress to make Juneteenth a federal holiday because “it’s been a long time coming.”
Gwen Grant pretty much summed it up when she added that, “we need Congress to protect voting rights, and that needs to happen right now so we don’t regress any further. That is the most important thing Congress can be addressing at this time.”
While honoring Juneteenth, a day of deep reverence to those descendants, cannot be denied, Black Twitter’s question remains, “Where are our reparations?”
One Twitter user wrote, “Juneteenth is literally a day that commemorates the fact that Black folks were still enslaved 2 years AFTER slavery had officially ended. You cannot make Juneteenth a federal holiday without paying reparations.”
Juneteenth is literally a day that commemorates the fact that Black folks were still enslaved 2 years AFTER slavery had officially ended. You cannot make Juneteenth a federal holiday without paying reparations.
— Richard Hughes (@_RichardHughes) June 18, 2021
Congresswoman, Cori Bush, states, “It’s Juneteenth AND reparations.”
It’s Juneteenth AND reparations.
It’s Juneteenth AND end police violence + the War on Drugs.
It’s Juneteenth AND end housing + education apartheid.
It’s Juneteenth AND teach the truth about white supremacy in our country.
Black liberation in its totality must be prioritized.
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) June 17, 2021
A considerable concern for many is if white businesses will capitalize off of Juneteenth.
I better not see a single Juneteenth mattress sale, y’all hear me?!
We didn’t stop picking cotton for it to be sold back to us for a profit. Give us reparations, not capitalistic BS.
— Jackée Harry (@JackeeHarry) June 17, 2021
One user states that the now holiday is PEAK for “What I Asked For vs. What I Got,” a trend where people share funny stories of frustration.
We asked for extensive voting rights protections, defunded police depts w/resources reallocated to education, job training & other essential &underfunded areas, criminal justice system overhaul and reparations.
And what did White folks do instead? Gave themselves a day off work.
— Candice Marie Benbow (@CandiceBenbow) June 16, 2021
