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Cuomo signs order making Juneteenth a holiday for state employees
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/cuomo-signs-order-making-juneteenth-a-holiday-for-state-employees
Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order making Juneteenth a paid holiday for state employees and promised to take action to enshrine the date as an official holiday.
Cuomo signed the order on Wednesday, making June 19, known as Juneteenth, a holiday for employees of the state government. Cuomo pointed out that it will take action by the New York Legislature to make the holiday official across the board.
“I don’t think it has been recognized for the importance that it denotes, and that’s why I’m going to propose legislation to make it an official holiday next year. And that’s why this year I’m doing what I can. What I can do is by executive order. Make it a state holiday for employees, and that’s what I’m doing,” Cuomo said, according to CBS New York.
Juneteenth celebrates the date in 1865 when word of the Emancipation Proclamation was formally announced in Texas, which was the first state to declare Juneteenth a holiday in 1980.
“Why not live and learn, right? Society progresses, we change, we evolve. Hopefully, we change for the better,” Cuomo said. “But I think this is a period where we’re going, we could see, we could see monumental change. And I want to be a force for change. And I want to help synergize this moment, whether it’s reform on the police department, whether it’s an expanded racial understanding and sensitivity and progress. And if Juneteenth is part of that.”
The order comes just a day after Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam proposed making Juneteenth a state holiday. Northam made the Tuesday announcement alongside singer and songwriter Pharrell Williams, a Virginia native.
“This is our chance to lead, to truly embrace the importance of Juneteenth and to treat it as a celebration of freedom that black people truly deserve,” Williams said.