There is no arguing with the important symbolism of turning Juneteenth into a federal holiday.
Doing so is another step in trying to address the racial divisions in this country. It acknowledges that although the Fourth of July holiday celebrates our nation’s independence, freedom for many Black Americans was denied for nearly a century after our nation’s break from England.
So the overwhelming decision of Congress, enthusiastically endorsed by President Biden, to make June 19th a national holiday from this year forward is a tangible acknowledgment that the end of slavery was a monumental moment in this nation’s history. When word finally reached Texas on June 19, 1865, that the Civil War had ended and that all slaves were free, it marked the end of a brutal chapter in this nation’s history and the sinful mistreatment of millions of people, the ramifications of which are still being felt to this day. The end of slavery should be celebrated not just in the victorious North, not just by African Americans, but by every region, every race and every nationality.
It should also be acknowledged, however, that every national holiday comes with a significant price tag for taxpayers. The estimated cost for giving federal workers a paid day off ranges between $600 million and $800 million, not including the military or the U.S. Post Office. The latter announced it did not have enough advance notice to shut down this Friday or Saturday, but it’s a good bet that it will take the Juneteenth holiday starting in 2022. Nor does the estimate include state and local governments, most of which tend to adopt federal holidays as theirs, too.
Maybe the policy of Congress should be that every time it adds a paid holiday, it takes one off that has lost its significance. A good place to start might be Labor Day. Established in 1894, the holiday was largely designed to appeal to organized labor, which has been dwindling in number for several decades. With just about 10% of U.S. workers now in unions, the holiday has become to most Americans nothing more than an end-of-summer excuse to cook out.
Or strike Columbus Day. It celebrates not only incorrect history, since the Italian explorer was not the first to discover America, but also an individual who, historians agree, terribly mistreated many of the native Americans he encountered on his voyages.
It’s not like capping the paid federal holidays at 11 would be onerous for government workers. Even before the addition of Juneteenth, according to Forbes magazine, the average federal employee was getting 43 days off a year (44 in inauguration years) between vacation and sick leave as well as holidays. That’s nearly nine weeks of work.
Most taxpayers employed in the private sector get nothing close to that.
