President Joe Biden signs a bill on Thursday afternoon, and Friday, some 1.8 million Americans who work for Uncle Sam get the day off! There’s a President who gets things done fast!
Governor Kristi Noem has kindly followed suit. In response to President Biden‘s and Congress‘s swift action to make Juneteenth, the celebration of the announcement of the emancipation of slaves in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, a legal national holiday, Governor Noem yesterday promptly declared that some 14,000 state employees in South Dakota also get to go to the lake today and enjoy the weather:
Today, Governor Kristi Noem announced a holiday for state workers on Friday, June 18, 2021, in honor of Juneteenth. This is in response to the “Juneteenth National Independence Day Act”, which was signed today by President Joseph R. Biden.
“‘All men are created equal.’ That is America’s foundational ideal,” said Governor Kristi Noem. “Juneteenth celebrates an important day when we came closer to making that ideal a reality for all Americans, regardless of race. I hope state employees take the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful South Dakota weather on their day off [Office of the Governor, press release, 2021.06.17].
In other fast government action, the Department of Labor and Regulation has already edited its website to include Juneteenth as a recognized legal holiday.
I’d like to give Governor Noem credit for her alacrity in recognizing Juneteenth. Last year, she somewhat limply acknowledged Juneteenth by praising the white generals who fought for African Americans’ equal liberty.* She could have turned President Biden’s action into a platform for her to stir more Lewandowski-esque controversy by warning that another Black holiday just opens the door for more Communist critical race theory. Instead, Noem politely avoided branding her own members of Congress as “woke” and gave her people the day off. That’s progress, right?
Well, arguably, state law compelled Noem to give state employees today off. SDCL 3-6C-20 says permanent (funny term, that) state employees get legal holidays off or get holiday pay if required to come in. SDCL 1-5-1 doesn’t list Juneteenth as an official holiday yet, but the statute does include as legal holidays “every day appointed by the President of the United States, or by the Governor of this state for a public fast, thanksgiving, or holiday….” President Biden “appointed” a holiday by signing S.475 yesterday, so happy three-day weekend, state employees! (Private employees may also want to review their contract language about legal holidays, because today most certainly is one.)
And more broadly, Philip Bump argues that apartheidists like Kristi can fit acknowledgement of Juneteenth as a holiday right into their agenda of deflecting conversations about and action to dismantle systemic racism:
The difference between embracing Juneteenth and embracing education on the persistence of racism in American society and institutions is the difference between an evil that has been addressed and an injustice that is ongoing. Declaring support for Juneteenth… is a way of pronouncing opposition to a very specific and very obvious form of racism — and can provide a way to say you’re doing something for those who are concerned about the more insidious forms racism takes.
…Discussions of contentious things get contentious. It’s much easier to celebrate a struggle that has ended than to lean into a struggle that’s ongoing. It is not paradoxical for a politician to support a holiday that recognizes the end of overt racism while opposing efforts to uncover more subtle manifestations of it.
In fact, it’s entirely consistent [Philip Bump, “Embracing Juneteenth Is Entirely Consistent with the Pushback Against Discussing Racism in Schools,” Washington Post, 2021.06.17].
But let’s not pee that hard on Kristi’s holiday pie. Juneteenth, like July 4, celebrates a momentous date in American history, a day when we took another step in the long march toward universal human dignity. If Kristi Noem, Dusty Johnson, Mike Rounds, and John Thune will all line up to celebrate that step, let’s welcome them to the parade and thank them for the day off to hold such parades. But the celebration of these good moments in our history does not preclude and does not excuse those like Kristi who would preclude further discussion of the next steps we must take to realize the goal of this great march to universal dignity.
*Update 07:55 CDT: Kristi Noem’s Juneteenth 2021 Facebook post:
It would be great to celebrate Independence Day on the date when independence was voted, July 2. The Declaration was kind of an afterthought, and while it has some nice language, it is a kind of whiny rundown of grievances. It was more spin than anything.
Do like grudznick does, Mr. Pay, and celebrate July 2-5. And help me start the big breakfasting tradition for Juneteenth.
yeah noem didn’t write that haha some staffer probably convinced her not to publicly announce her idiocy yet again and then they found some generic approval words and copy-pasted them. take that to the bank.
Do You Know “The Rest of the Story”?
-Juneteenth is different from emancipation day, which is August 01.
-Juneteenth is a holiday to spit on Texans who kept humans in chains, just because they wanted to.
-Like you states that didn’t follow scientific protocol during Covid.
-More than two and a half years passed between Lincoln’s Proclamation and the formal end of slavery in Texas.
NOEM FOR PRESIDENT ~ EMBRACE WHITE VICTIM DAY
All across Texas MAGA’s are celebrating that Texas had slaves 2 1/2 years longer than any other state.
I know it’s true because before The Big Liar they’d have Juneteenth parties in the Colorado Rockies, trying to beat the Texas heat.
Juneteenth is a Black Texan holiday commemorating what was perpetrated on them by white slavers.
The Declaration had to be made to try and legitimize what was an unprecedented revolt against the Crown. “risking our lives and fortunes” as one delegate put it and no one of them had more to lose than George and Martha Washington (his fortune was nearly all Martha’s…he was but a manager of her affairs)…”We will hang together or hang separately” remarked Franklin, who was very unsure of the outcome. The revolution was a long shot and succeeded largely because it was a sideshow in a much larger war involving most of the European powers.
on this one, I’m with Grudz..take a week off (I’m retired , I”m always off)..have three eggs for breakfast, with the sausage and a rare ribeye for supper. Thank you, founding fathers!
Well Porter, I’m sure you know that Mexico needed settlers in Texas so they revised their laws and let Anglo slaveholders settle in. Those are the brave texicans you read so much about. They got tired of Mexico and revolted. They were a particularly revolting people.