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The Herald Scotland
6 hours ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
America in different place since NFL first embraced Juneteenth
The entire nation was still reeling from the murder of George Floyd which happened in May of 2020. His killing triggered massive nationwide protests. There were also conversations. In the streets. In homes. In workplaces. There was introspection. There was pain but also hope. There was the feeling that things could get better. Do you remember that time? Remember how much we talked about unity and care and togetherness? It was all there. That time feels so, so long ago. America looks different now. There are deepening pools of hate and xenophobia. Reversal of everything accomplished in the past five years. We've taken steps backward in ways few imagined, at a speed few knew possible. Go back to 2020. Goodell and the league saw what was happening around the country, and knew the NFL needed to change. So, in early June, Goodell announced that the league would recognize June 19, or Juneteenth, as a company holiday. "This year, as we work together as a family and in our communities to combat the racial injustices that remain deeply rooted into the fabric of our society, the NFL will observe Juneteenth on Friday, June 19th as a recognized holiday and our league offices will be closed," Goodell said in a statement then. "It is a day to reflect on our past, but more importantly, consider how each one of us can continue to show up and band together to work toward a better future." This was no small thing. It was also part of a larger push by a league to change the views from some of its players who felt the NFL was uncaring, and even hostile toward, the protests led by Colin Kaepernick that started in 2016. After Floyd was killed, the league was forced to take a more empathetic stand, and that's where observing the Juneteenth holiday came in. Juneteenth is celebrated as the end of slavery in America. The Emancipation Proclamation was established on Jan. 1, 1863, but it wasn't until two years later on June 19, following the end of the Civil War, that newly freed slaves in Texas were told of Abraham Lincoln's directive. One day after saying it would recognize Juneteenth, the NFL announced an increase in its financial backing of social justice causes to $250 million over 10 years in order to "combat systemic racism and support the battle against the ongoing and historic injustices faced by African Americans." "The power of this historical feat in our country's blemished history is felt each year, but there is no question that the magnitude of this event weighs even more heavily today in the current climate," Goodell also said in his statement. "Juneteenth not only marks the end of slavery in the United States, but it also symbolizes freedom - a freedom that was delayed, and brutally resisted; and though decades of progress followed, a freedom for which we must continue to fight." That was then. Look at the nation now. We don't need to get into all of the details but we are in a frightening place. The country that held such promising conversations following the Floyd protests? It's gone. Replaced by ugliness and fear and federal agents expanding raids to strawberry fields. There are governmental efforts to destroy anything that has to do with diversity. We are more militarized. We are more divided. And the NFL hasn't been exempt from the pressures to abandon pluralism and diversity. Four years ago, it loudly proclaimed itself DEI advocates. Now, as USA TODAY'S Jarrett Bell wrote in May, the league has stopped its coaching accelerator program, saying it will come back in some reimagined form next year. In burying the program, it looked like the league was succumbing to outside pressure. The NFL vehemently disputes this. "I realize that people are going to look at this and say, 'These people are backing off,'" Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II, chair of the NFL's diversity committee, told Bell. "That's not going to happen. There's nothing I can really do about that perception, except to say that we're still not satisfied with where we are, and we recognize that we still have work to do." Hopefully Rooney is right. Five years ago, the league embraced Juneteenth. An NFL spokesman told USA TODAY Sports it still is. The league office will be closed on the 19th, the spokesman said. It may seem odd to say that something as simple as a closed NFL office on Juneteenth is some sort of progress. But in this country? Now? Unfortunately, it is. All the NFL news on and off the field. Sign up for USA TODAY's 4th and Monday newsletter.
Time of India
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
'Too many non-working holidays': Donald Trump on Juneteenth, skips celebration; once claimed to make it 'famous'
President Donald Trump talks with reporters in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP) US President Donald Trump honored Juneteenth in each of his first four years as president, even before it became a federal holiday. He even claimed once to have made it "very famous. ' But on this year's Juneteenth holiday on Thursday, the usually talkative president kept silent about a day important to Black Americans for marking the end of slavery in the country he leads again. Juneteenth, the holiday that marks the end of slavery in the United States, has been celebrated at the White House each June 19 since it was enshrined into law four years ago. But Thursday, it went unmarked by the president -- except for a post on social media in which he said he would get rid of some "non-working holidays." "Too many non-working holidays in America. It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed. The workers don't want it either! Soon we'll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year. ," Trump said in mangled syntax, not mentioning Juneteenth by name nor acknowledging that Thursday was a federal holiday. "It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" The holiday commemorates the end of slavery in the US after the Civil War — specifically, the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, nearly two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, to inform enslaved African Americans there that the Civil War had ended and that all enslaved people had been freed. A few months later, the 13th Amendment was ratified, officially abolishing slavery in the remaining four border states that had not been covered by Lincoln's proclamation. and belatedly announced that enslaved people were freed. Earlier Thursday, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters during the daily briefing that she was not aware of any plans by Trump to celebrate the day or otherwise officially mark it. "I'm not tracking his signature on a proclamation today," Leavitt said of the president, who has in the past week signed proclamations commemorating Father's Day, Flag Day and National Flag Week, and the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill -- none of which are among the 11 federal holidays in United States. The lack of revelry at the White House for a holiday that has been cherished by generations of Black Americans was perhaps not a surprise. Trump, in his last term, issued statements on the anniversary of Juneteenth every year for three years, before it was ever a federal holiday. "Melania and I send our warmest greetings to all those celebrating Juneteenth, a historic day recognizing the end of slavery," he wrote in 2017, extolling Maj Gen Gordon Granger, who announced in Galveston in 1865 that "all slaves were free." In 2018 he evoked Granger again, and praised "the courage and sacrifice of the nearly 200,000 former enslaved and free African Americans who fought for liberty." Trump has previously also tried to take credit for making Juneteenth "very famous," saying during his first term in 2020 that, 'nobody had ever heard of it." His comments came while the nation was reeling from ongoing civil unrest after George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. But since returning to office he has moved to purge the federal government of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and sanitize Black history -- or even erase references to it entirely. Juneteenth is the newest US federal holiday, enshrined into law in 2021 by Congress and then-President Joe Biden. Trump cannot undo it without an act of Congress.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump criticizes ‘non-working holidays' on Juneteenth
President Donald Trump took to social media Thursday on Juneteenth, a federal holiday, to criticize the number of 'non-working holidays' in the United States. 'Too many non-working holidays in America. It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed. The workers don't want it either! Soon we'll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year. It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!' Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. Juneteenth is the oldest regular US celebration of the end of slavery. It commemorates June 19, 1865 – the day that Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and told a group of slaves that the Civil War had ended and they were free - more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. During Thursday's White House press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Trump was unlikely to mark the federal holiday. 'I'm not tracking his signature on a proclamation today,' Leavitt said. 'I know this is a federal holiday — I want to thank all of you for showing up to work. We are certainly here, we're working 24/7 right now.' Trump has previously tried to take credit for making Juneteenth 'very famous,' saying during his first term in 2020 that, 'nobody had ever heard of it.' His comments came while the nation was reeling from ongoing civil unrest after George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. Trump had previously pledged to make Juneteenth a federal holiday during his 2020 presidential campaign. Juneteenth didn't become an official holiday until 2021, under President Joe Biden's administration. Since his reelection, Trump has made the elimination of DEI programs a centerpiece of his administration, cracking down on diversity efforts in the federal government with a series of executive orders. CNN's Donald Judd contributed to this report.
CNN
8 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
Trump criticizes ‘non-working holidays' on Juneteenth
President Donald Trump took to social media Thursday on Juneteenth, a federal holiday, to criticize the number of 'non-working holidays' in the United States. 'Too many non-working holidays in America. It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed. The workers don't want it either! Soon we'll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year. It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!' Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. Juneteenth is the oldest regular US celebration of the end of slavery. It commemorates June 19, 1865 – the day that Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and told a group of slaves that the Civil War had ended and they were free - more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. During Thursday's White House press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Trump was unlikely to mark the federal holiday. 'I'm not tracking his signature on a proclamation today,' Leavitt said. 'I know this is a federal holiday — I want to thank all of you for showing up to work. We are certainly here, we're working 24/7 right now.' Trump has previously tried to take credit for making Juneteenth 'very famous,' saying during his first term in 2020 that, 'nobody had ever heard of it.' His comments came while the nation was reeling from ongoing civil unrest after George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. Trump had previously pledged to make Juneteenth a federal holiday during his 2020 presidential campaign. Juneteenth didn't become an official holiday until 2021, under President Joe Biden's administration. Since his reelection, Trump has made the elimination of DEI programs a centerpiece of his administration, cracking down on diversity efforts in the federal government with a series of executive orders.
CNN
9 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
Trump criticizes ‘non-working holidays' on Juneteenth
President Donald Trump took to social media Thursday on Juneteenth, a federal holiday, to criticize the number of 'non-working holidays' in the United States. 'Too many non-working holidays in America. It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed. The workers don't want it either! Soon we'll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year. It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!' Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. Juneteenth is the oldest regular US celebration of the end of slavery. It commemorates June 19, 1865 – the day that Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and told a group of slaves that the Civil War had ended and they were free - more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. During Thursday's White House press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Trump was unlikely to mark the federal holiday. 'I'm not tracking his signature on a proclamation today,' Leavitt said. 'I know this is a federal holiday — I want to thank all of you for showing up to work. We are certainly here, we're working 24/7 right now.' Trump has previously tried to take credit for making Juneteenth 'very famous,' saying during his first term in 2020 that, 'nobody had ever heard of it.' His comments came while the nation was reeling from ongoing civil unrest after George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. Trump had previously pledged to make Juneteenth a federal holiday during his 2020 presidential campaign. Juneteenth didn't become an official holiday until 2021, under President Joe Biden's administration. Since his reelection, Trump has made the elimination of DEI programs a centerpiece of his administration, cracking down on diversity efforts in the federal government with a series of executive orders.
