Tom Tiffany Thinks Juneteenth Is Racist

     Of the 535 voting members of Congress, only 14 opposed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, a bill to make Juneteenth a national holiday (President Biden signed the bill into law on June 17th after it passed the Senate on the 15th and the House on the 16th). The holiday celebrates the effective end of slavery in the United States. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation outlawed slavery in the Southern states effective January 1st, 1863. However, enforcing the proclamation relied on the advance of Union troops through Confederate territory. Major General Gordon Granger advanced into Galveston, Texas, and declared the end of slavery on June 19th, 1865. While slavery would not officially end until the 13th amendment took effect in 1866 (ending it in the states of Kentucky and Delaware), Juneteenth has been celebrated in Texas since 1866 and is now officially a federal holiday for the first time today.

     We should give Ron Johnson credit for his usual nonsense. He was the only senator who opposed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act in 2020, preventing its passage by claiming it would somehow cost taxpayers money and was "unnecessary." This year, he was also opposed to it, but decided to vote for it because, in his words, the Senate "clearly did not want to debate the matter any longer."

     After passing unanimously in the Senate, it went to the House of Representatives, where it passed 415-14. All 14 "no" votes were Republicans, including Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin. Their explanation, iterated by Chip Roy of Texas, was that the name of the bill was "unnecessarily divisive by creating a separate Independence Day" for people of color. Tiffany himself said it "fueled separatism."

     Well, Mr. Tiffany, words cannot describe how idiotic this logic is. Juneteenth is a celebration of black people finally being freed from the bonds of slavery, of being legally considered human beings for the first time in American history. You really think it is only in the interest of black people to celebrate the end of slavery? Juneteenth is a celebration of America as a nation making progress, accepting the brilliant minds and talents of people regardless of the color of their skin. In your opinion, can white people not get behind that? There is nothing divisive about Juneteenth, and Juneteenth is not racist. On the contrary, Tom Tiffany, it seems your bizarre rationalizations and conspiracy theories are coming full circle.