Juneteenth heads toward becoming a federal holiday

Juneteenth is on its way to becoming a federal holiday. Hours after Sen. Ron Johnson announced he would drop his objections Tuesday, the Senate passed the bill.

The day commemorates June 19, 1865, when slaves in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation more than two years earlier. Celebrated in 47 states and the District of Columbia, Juneteenth has long unofficially marked the day that slavery in America truly ended.

Last year, in the wake of millions marching under the Black Lives Matters banner following the killing of George Floyd, a bipartisan group tried to get Congress to recognize Juneteenth as a federal holiday.

But that effort was thwarted by Johnson, who argued that adding a 12th federal holiday to the calendar was a waste of taxpayer money.

In a press release Tuesday, Johnson backed down. “While it still seems strange that having taxpayers provide federal employees paid time off is now required to celebrate the end of slavery, it is clear that there is no appetite in Congress to further discuss the matter,” the Wisconsin Republican said. “Therefore, I do not intend to object.”

The bill is now expected to move quickly through the House. It would give federal government employees a day off every year on June 19, or a Monday or Friday near it.

That would put pressure on the private sector and local governments to do the same.

In her June 15 column, “Dear Paxton: Abortion isn’t the pathway to fulfilling your dreams as your grad speech suggests,” Cynthia Allen criticizes Paxton Smith’s valedictorian speech regarding her concern for the morerestrictive abortion law that was recently passed by the Texas Legislature.

Allen talks about how wonderful and remarkable motherhood is, but she fails to mention that planning and wanting motherhood are key to a successful outcome.

Smith’s concern that an unplanned pregnancy could dash her hopes for completing her education or reverse her career path are certainly more thoughtful than that of Allen, who would take away her choice.

More important, women with lower incomes are more severely affected by Texas-type laws.

Poor women do not have the luxury of seeking an out-of-state abortion and the horrors of a selfinduced abortion loom large.

Smith says no stranger (or state) should be making one of the most important decisions affecting her health and her future — and she is right.