Black Emancipation: NBM Commends Joe Biden For Making June 19 Public Holiday In US

The Neo-Black Movement of Africa Worldwide, (NBM) has eulogised President Joe Biden of the United State of America (USA) for the recognition accorded Black emancipation, and the subsequent signing into law the bill to make June 19, the 12th Federal Holiday in the United States.

NBM said the African Americans and Africans all over the world are rejoicing after the U.S. President Joe Biden made Juneteenth a Federal Holiday.

This was made known on Sunday by Mr. Oluwatosin Dixon, the Public Relations Officer of NBM of Africa Worldwide on the sideline of President Joe Biden signing the legislation establishing a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery.

Biden signed into law the bill to make Juneteenth, or June 19, the 12th federal holiday in the United States; a commemoration of the events of June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas – some two and a half (2 1/2) years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had freed slaves in Southern states.

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The statement reads apart, “Indeed for the Neo-Black Movement, the U.S. President has etched his name in gold in the annals of Black History and the Black Struggle for total emancipation from the vestiges of discrimination and oppression.

“It is worthy of note that the U.S. Senate passed the bill by unanimous agreement. But in the House, only 14 Republicans voted against it.

“The Neo-Black Movement appreciates this recognition but this is also a time of racial reckoning in America and more work is needed to change policies that disadvantage too many Black people.

“This epic declaration of Juneteenth as a public holiday in the United States comes as some state legislators push an unprecedented number of bills aimed at restricting access to the ballot box. While Republicans say the goal is to prevent voter fraud, Democrats contend that the measures are aimed at undermining minority voting rights. This is worrisome as we conclude that this could erode years of gains in voting rights for African Americans and other minorities.

“We hope that the Juneteenth holiday will help promote understanding and unity among Americans even as efforts are afoot across the United States to limit what school districts teach about the history of slavery in America.

“However we need the U.S. Congress to protect voting rights, and that needs to happen right now so there’s no further regression. That is the most important thing that the U.S. Congress can be addressing at this time.

“We also want the U.S. Federal Government to make reparations or financial payments to the descendants of slaves in an attempt to compensate for age old wrongs; Africa will also have to benefit from these reparations and this will best be served if it comes in the form of a Marshall Plan like the European Recovery Program which was a U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II.”