Holiday
In case you haven’t heard, there is now a movement afoot to establish a national holiday to celebrate “Juneteenth” on June 19 each year, in celebration of the abolition of slavery on June 19, 1864.
“…If we took a holiday, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, took some time to celebrate, come on let’s celebrate just one day out of life. Holiday, it would be so nice. You can turn this world around and bring back all of those happy days, put your troubles down, it’s time to celebrate.” (“Holiday” – Madonna – 1983)
Despite our nation’s leader’s recent Twitter announcement that he did “something good” by making Juneteenth “very famous,” “an important event,” “but nobody had ever heard of it,” the idea of a national holiday sounds good to me. It’s only fair, since they took away Lincoln’s birthday and replaced it with Presidents Day to commemorate the birthdays of both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
Our nation’s fearless leader, who recently proclaimed that Black Lives Matter supporters are “thugs,” had a cow last week when he learned that a Black Lives Matter mural will be painted in the heart of Manhattan’s financial district, on Fifth Avenue, across the street from Trump Tower. Mayor De Blasio proclaimed that fearless leader “should be reminded Black Lives Matter.”
Juneteenth, which commemorates the Emancipation Proclamation, officially banning slavery in the U.S., is typically celebrated with family gatherings, picnics and parades. However, the celebrations may have been toned down due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
In order for Juneteenth to be made an official national holiday, it will require the cooperation and approval of both houses of Congress. This would be an uphill battle and is highly unlikely due to partisan politics. Despite easy passage by the House of Representatives, the right-leaning Senate would likely prevent such a thing from happening anytime soon. But, given the current mood of voters, the balance of power in Washington, D.C., could shift after the November election.
There are, of course, unofficial holidays every day of the year, hundreds of which occur all through the year. As an example, if Juneteenth gains approval as a national holiday, it will have to share the day with several unofficial holidays, such as Garfield the Cat Day, National Martini Day (I’ll drink to that) and National Flip Flop Day (I can relate to that).
Last week, I went “on holiday” (as the Brits call a vacation) to Las Vegas and Laughlin to celebrate my June 22 birthday, which I got to share with National Chocolate Éclair Day… Mmmmm, chocolate (frequent Homer Simpson saying), National Onion Ring Day and National HVAC Tech Day… a tip ’o the hat to the HVAC technicians who kept me cool whilst I was on holiday.
Hope you enjoy this weekend’s July 4th holiday, despite the absence of fireworks in most communities this year. Every day you wake up is worth celebrating, because every day is a holiday.
“Everybody spread the word, we’re gonna have a celebration all across the world, in every nation.”
Keep it flyin’ Uncle Mott