President Biden makes history officiating Juneteenth by declaration as a national holiday! Biden’s recent press conference at the White House, captured the President formally signing a bill into law making Juneteenth a national holiday after the bill was passed by both the House and the Senate earlier this week.
President Biden was overcome with emotion and said that officially signing the legislation into law declaring June 19th as Juneteenth National Independence Day, is already “one of the greatest honors” of his presidency. The federal law, which commemorates the official end of slavery in the United States, will now be observed as a federal holiday.
While speaking at the signing, President Biden had this to say:
“I have to say to you, I’ve only been president for several months, but I think this will go down, for me, as one of the greatest honors I will have as president. I regret that my grandchildren aren’t here, because this is a really, really, really important moment in our history. By making Juneteenth a federal holiday, all Americans can feel the power of this day and learn from our history—and celebrate progress and grapple with the distance we’ve come (and) the distance we have to travel.”
As he signed the declaration, President Biden was surrounded by Vice President Kamala Harris and 80 members of Congress, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, local elected officials, community leaders and activists.
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