# Congress Overwhelmingly Approves Juneteenth as New Federal Holiday **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 17, 2021, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440 "2021-06-17T04:52:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dinsdale1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Dinsdale1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale1)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/41 "2021-06-17T17:20:21Z")
I conduct administrative hearings for which claimants have been waiting for considerable time. I have 6 hrgs scheduled for tomorrow. I was just told that they will be cancelled. They will not be rescheduled for 3 months or so. I bet those 6 folk aren’t thrilled! ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/42 "2021-06-17T17:29:47Z")
There’s a lot of holidays where you could argue for more logical calendar dates to be honest (Christmas being one of the biggest ones), but holidays are mostly a social exercise so it’s more important probably what the historical practice has been versus what makes the most sense. There are probably days that make more sense to celebrate the ending of slavery, but the local holiday that built up around Texas is the one that got national prominence, so it makes more sense to incorporate that day Federally versus alternative days, at this point. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/43 "2021-06-17T17:38:00Z")
I first heard about Juneteenth at a music festial many years ago when Laura Love took the stage and sang her song Saskatchewan (Juneteenth). Still gives me goose bumps. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/2seZk-Xg4ic/maxresdefault.jpg "The Story Of, And The Song, "Saskatchewan(Juneteenth)", Performed By The Laura Love Duo") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2seZk-Xg4ic) ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Dinsdale1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale1)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/44 "2021-06-17T18:20:56Z")
Just checking - we’re good now, right? No need for any further discussion of reparations, wealth disparity, police brutality, etc , now that we have a Juneteenth holiday! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/45 "2021-06-17T18:31:15Z")
> [@Dinsdale1](#): > > No need for any further discussion of reparations, wealth disparity, police brutality, etc , now that we have a Juneteenth holiday! You really should cite _The Onion_ if you steal their headlines. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/46 "2021-06-17T18:34:35Z")
> [@bump](#): > > It’s nicely symbolic, a warm weather holiday (who the hell wants to have a celebration on December 18th, a week before Christmas anyway?) To quote [Chris Rock](https://time.com/3707793/chris-rock-black-history-month/), “Black History Month is in the shortest month of the year, and the coldest—just in case we want to have a parade.” ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/47 "2021-06-17T18:42:48Z")
> [@Dinsdale1](#): > > I conduct administrative hearings for which claimants have been waiting for considerable time. I have 6 hrgs scheduled for tomorrow. I was just told that they will be cancelled. They will not be rescheduled for 3 months or so. > > I bet those 6 folk aren’t thrilled! This was pretty much exactly my concern about Juneteenth going into effect immediately. That’s just ridiculously short notice for scheduling, staffing, personnel assignments, and such. And then you get into things like court dates, medical appointments, and so forth, and it’s just chaos. This really seems like one of those Rear Echelon - Frontline divides. The salaried office folks just think of it as a slack day, maybe they’ll have to reschedule a conference call or Zoom meeting, but other than that, no big deal, they’ll catch up on the paperwork Monday. But for frontline services, especially the public-facing ones, it’s going to be a minor disaster. Your cancelled hearings are a case in point. Let me be clear: I think it’s wonderful that Juneteenth is being officially recognized as a Federal holiday. And if the legislation recognizing it for 2021 had gone into effect three months ago, or the legislation had specified that Juneteenth, 2021 was being recognized by proclamation, but it wouldn’t be officially observed until 2022, that would have been great. Again, it is seriously wonderful that it’s being recognized, but this implementation just seems like no one thought of the practical consequences. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/48 "2021-06-17T18:54:36Z")
Man, you have the Feds pick up your garbage? Must be a nice neighborhood! ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/49 "2021-06-17T18:58:19Z")
Local government services typically follow the federal holiday calendar. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/50 "2021-06-17T19:29:57Z")
instant day off! ---
**Author:** ![oldoaktree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ccd318/32.png) [@oldoaktree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldoaktree)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/51 "2021-06-17T19:39:05Z")
Seems to good to me, celebrating Americans being freed from slavery by Americans in America seems better than Celebrating an Italian sailing for Spain who discovered Caribbean Islands. I am a bit surprised though. A Federal Holiday costs a lot of money. I forget if any states still ignore MLK day, but wasn’t the argument it cost too much. One can speculate about their real motives but the that was the official line. How long have they been working on this. Honestly i never heard of Juneteenth until a couple years ago ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/52 "2021-06-17T19:50:49Z")
Before the end of the year, my employer publishes a list of holidays for the new year, so they add up to ten days. If, for example, Christmas is a Tuesday, we might get December 24 off. So as far as I know, we’re not getting a day off for this new holiday. I suspect most employers operate the same way. ---
**Author:** ![oldoaktree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ccd318/32.png) [@oldoaktree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldoaktree)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/53 "2021-06-17T19:54:14Z")
If the Feds are picking up your garbage you got other things to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/54 "2021-06-17T19:58:08Z")
> [@oldoaktree](#): > > How long have they been working on this. Honestly i never heard of Juneteenth until a couple years ago This particular piece of legislation? It was introduced to the Senate on February 25th, then sat in committee for four months, before being suddenly being unanimously passed on June 15th, and then adopted by unanimous consent the same day. The House passed it by an overwhelming majority on June 16th. President Biden signed it into law today. So, depending on how you look at it, they’ve been working on it since February - or for a couple of days. As for the folk holiday itself, other posters have linked histories upthread. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/55 "2021-06-17T19:59:01Z")
Yeah. My employer won’t be giving everyone tomorrow off. And my garbage collectors will still be working (although mine is picked up on Tuesdays). I don’t see this affecting any services i use other than the mail. Yes, it will be a nuisance for people with court dates. Congress will get a long weekend. Most of us will survive. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/56 "2021-06-17T20:00:25Z")
> [@oldoaktree](#): > > If the Feds are picking up your garbage you got other things to worry about. Picking up, not too much. Picking _through_ on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/57 "2021-06-17T20:01:26Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > There’s a lot of holidays where you could argue for more logical calendar dates to be honest (Christmas being one of the biggest ones), but holidays are mostly a social exercise so it’s more important probably what the historical practice has been versus what makes the most sense. There are probably days that make more sense to celebrate the ending of slavery, but the local holiday that built up around Texas is the one that got national prominence, so it makes more sense to incorporate that day Federally versus alternative days, at this point. No, the argument for the states that historically did not observe MLK day was not that it cost too much, it was that it celebrated the life of a black civil rights leader. I don’t believe any states are full holdouts anymore, but several states perversely do a “combined MLK + Confederate General” holiday i.e. “Lee-King” Day in several Southern states, Virginia only recently got rid of the Lee part of it in 2000, and abandoned that as a separate holiday in 2020. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/58 "2021-06-17T20:04:56Z")
Watching The Prez sign it right now. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/59 "2021-06-17T20:16:15Z")
Happy Juneteenth, everyone! What plans do y’all have? I’m hosting a party in the back yard. I can’t believe my foresight in telling my friends it was for Juneteenth. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440/60 "2021-06-17T20:22:43Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Yes, it will be a nuisance for people with court dates. Given the nature of **Dinsdale** ’s work, that could mean some low-income people don’t get a ruling on their applications for needed benefits for at least three more months. That’s a bit more than a “nuisance”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-overwhelmingly-approves-juneteenth-as-new-federal-holiday/944440.md?page=4)