"Junettin" | The US Congress approves a public holiday to mark the end of slavery

(Washington) In a rare moment of solidarity, the U.S. Republicans and Democrats in Congress approved the creation of a new federal holiday on June 19 to commemorate the release of the last slaves in Texas in 1865.

On June 16, 2021 at 7:53 p.m.

President Joe Biden should pass the law now, but his support is clear.

“This Day Reflects on Freedom,” said Sheila Jackson Lee of the House of Representatives’ elected Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee.

With the support of Democratic and Republican leaders, the Chamber ratified the speech by 145 to 415 votes.

The day before, it had been unanimously approved by the Senate.

In front of an old photo of a black man with torn backs, elected African-American Sheila Jackson Lee spoke on the hemisphere of the “long journey” that traveled up to this poll.

“But we’re here today to vote for Juneten, a National Independence Day, a federal holiday for the United States,” he said.

Republican Sen. John Corn, who brought the bill with him, wrote that “it is important to recognize and learn from past mistakes.”

These two MPs represent Texas in Congress. It is in this vast state that the last slaves learned on June 19, 1865, that they are no longer free.

President Abraham Lincoln actually freed slaves from slavery two and a half years ago by signing one and a half^{There is} January 1863 Declaration of Independence.

But during the American Civil War (1861-1865), slavery continued in the southern Confederacy.

On April 9, 1865, Robert Lee, the leader of the Confederate army, signed his surrender. And it took two months for the news to reach the small Texas town of Calveston on June 19th.

“Junetin” was already a public holiday in some US states, including Texas, but it was not yet marked with a federal date.

Calls to turn it into a holiday have doubled since the May 25, 2020 killing of African-American George Floyd by a white policeman.

This date of June 19 “reminds us of a history distorted by brutality and injustice, and it reminds everyone of their responsibility to build a future of progress that respects the ideal of equality in the United States,” the Democratic House said. Speaker Nancy Pelosi.