The Biden administration is honoring the third offical nationwide observance of Juneteenth as a federal holiday, the country’s newest one marking the date the last enslaved people in the United States learned they were free.
President Joe Biden took to Twitter on Monday to recognize the holiday, describing it as a chance to “breathe new life into the essence of America.” He added it is a reminder that the promise of America is that we are all created equal and promised to “never walk away from that.”
“It’s about remembering history, not erasing it. It’s about reading books, not banning them,” the president also wrote on Twitter in a potential reference to Republican-led efforts to make it easier for parents to challenge books in school libraries they deem to be pornographic, deal improperly with racial issues or in other ways be inappropriate for students.
Vice President Kamala Harris is celebrating the day in Los Angeles, where she is set deliver remarks at CNN’s Juneteenth concert at the Greek Theatre.
The Treasury Department put out a fact sheet outlining the actions it has taken to “foster an economy that unleashes the economic potential of those who have been underserved.” The sheet notes how some parts of Biden’s signature legislation, particularly the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act, are being implemented in ways that benefit low-income families and people of color.
Among the things the Treasury specifically mentioned was investing $1.4 billion in Black-owned and Black-majority shareholder depository institutions and increasing the dollar amount of Treasury prime contracts given to Black-owned businesses by 60% since fiscal year 2020, with a goal of expanding the federal government’s contracts with small and minority-owned businesses by 15 percent by 2025.
The department also pointed to the pandemic-related Emergency Rental Assistance program to help families avoid eviction, saying as of December 2022, 42% of assistance has gone to Black families.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters during a briefing on Monday that the president and first lady were thinking of those killed and injured over the weekend in a shooting at a Juneteenth celebration in Illinois. At least 23 people were shot, one fatally, early Sunday during a gathering in a suburban Chicago parking lot that drew hundreds of people to celebrate Juneteenth, authorities said.
In 2021, Biden signed bipartisan legislation establishing Juneteenth, or June 19, as a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery and marking June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers told enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, the news of their freedom.
Biden signed the legislation surrounded by members of the Congressional Black Caucus as well as the lead sponsors of the legislation in the Senate, Sens. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and John Cornyn, R-Texas.
The president is in Northern California on Monday to announce funding for climate efforts, however, last week, Biden and Harris hosted a concert on the South Lawn of the White House in honor of the holiday.
The concert also commemorated Black Music Month, and featured artists such as Tony Award winner Audra McDonald and singer and talk show host Jennifer Hudson.