(Washington, D.C.) – Today U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) issued the following statement following the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act being signed into law.
“Juneteenth marks the day when enslaved Texans finally learned of their freedom from slavery in 1865, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. So many Black Americans have celebrated this important day for years and I’m glad it will finally be a federal holiday. Juneteenth is a day to commemorate the end of slavery, but it is also a day to remember our country’s very real history of slavery, racial oppression, and injustice—and the systemic racism that stems from this history that continues to harm Black Americans today.
“Recognizing Juneteenth as a federal holiday is a positive step towards reckoning with the systemic racism that Black Americans have faced for centuries, and an opportunity for us to redouble our efforts to bring about meaningful policy changes in our laws, systems, and institutions.”