Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King Jr., is calling for Juneteenth to be made into a national holiday.
King, an evangelist, made her comments in a column posted by Fox News on Friday.
She noted that “Juneteenth (Friday) marks the day in 1865 when those held as slaves in Texas finally learned the abhorrent practice had ended two years previously when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.”
“A year later, Juneteenth celebrations began across Texas and eventually would pop up in other parts of the South,” King said. “The Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and ’60s spread awareness of the holiday.
“In April 1968, my uncle, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in the midst of planning the Poor People’s Campaign, which was to culminate in a peaceful march in Washington, D.C.”
And she said the Poor People’s March took place on Juneteenth.
“People from all over the country gathered in our nation’s capital that day, and when they left, many of them took a newfound knowledge of and respect for the holiday with them,” she said. “Celebrations began springing up in other parts of the country.”
King pointed out that President Donald Trump had scheduled a campaign rally on June 19 but changed it at the request of black leaders.
“Now Juneteenth is on the national radar, and that’s a good thing,” she said.
“Some major companies, like the NFL and Nike, are making it a formal holiday.
“I think it’s time to go further and make it a national holiday.”
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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