[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 103 (Thursday, June 16, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S3001]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               JUNETEENTH

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, this Sunday, we commemorate the 157th 
Juneteenth, a portmanteau of June and the nineteenth, which celebrates 
the liberation of the last remaining enslaved Black Americans at the 
end of the Civil War. This is our newest Federal holiday, which we will 
observe on Monday, but African-American communities have celebrated 
Juneteenth as Emancipation Day, Jubilee Day, or Black Independence Day 
as far back as 1886 in Texas.
  On this date in 1865, U.S. Army Major General Gordon Granger arrived 
at a Confederate outpost in Galveston, TX, where he delivered the news 
of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation to 250,000 still-
enslaved Texans. Many United States Colored Troops--USCT--who fought 
for freedom and to preserve the Union, accompanied Granger. Lincoln had 
issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which granted Black Americans 
their freedom, 2 years earlier. Robert E. Lee had surrendered to U.S. 
Army Lt. General Ulysses Grant 2 months earlier at Appomattox.
  In my home State of Maryland, abolitionists Frederick Douglass and 
Harriet Tubman paved the way for future civil rights activists by 
risking their lives to help bring enslaved people to freedom. Their 
work has had a profound impact on our community and on Maryland's rich 
cultural history.
  African-American history is American history. We all must learn the 
lessons of Juneteenth and understand how our lives have been changed 
because of it. We cannot celebrate the freedoms brought forth on 
Juneteenth without acknowledging there was slavery in the United States 
of America. Slavery is a part of American history. The Constitution 
originally protected slavery through the fugitive slave clause and 
three-fifths clause.
  We cannot and should not hide from these facts or try to erase them 
from our history books or suppress them in our classrooms.
  In Maryland, we often look to the work of Justice Thurgood Marshall, 
who spent his life fighting for the rights of Black Americans and 
trying to reverse systemic discrimination. Marshall, arguing before the 
Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education and later serving as the 
first African-American Associate Justice on the Court, set a precedent 
for future generations of Black men and women that even the highest 
honors are within their reach. The Senate recently confirmed Ketanji 
Brown Jackson to be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.
  While Thurgood Marshall was an inspiration, his work of reversing 
systemic racism is far from complete. It is our responsibility as a 
Nation to continue the work Justice Marshall and activists like him 
started. Though we have made progress, the fight for racial justice 
will never be complete until we have achieved equitable treatment for 
people of all races and can truly guarantee equality of opportunity. 
The pursuit of racial justice will ensure that we live up to our 
Nation's promise of equality for all people, regardless of the color of 
their skin.
  Countering systemic racism and advancing racial justice should be a 
daily occurrence. We must learn from our past, actively challenge our 
own prejudices, and take conscious steps to dismantle the racist 
structures embedded in our society.
  On President Biden's first day in office, he signed an Executive 
order entitled ``Advancing Racial Equity and Support from Underserved 
Communities Through the Federal Government.'' The President directed 
Federal Agencies to assess how their programs and policies might be 
perpetuating systemic barriers to opportunity and to propose Equity 
Action Plans that contain specific Agency commitments to redress 
inequities and promote equitable outcomes in communities.
  The Biden-Harris administration has already taken numerous steps to 
expand opportunities for African-Americans. The Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Law permanently reauthorizes the Minority Business 
Development Agency for the first time and enhances its authority. The 
administration has stepped up its efforts to combat racial 
discrimination in the housing market and to help African-Americans get 
fair treatment when it comes to staying in their homes and on their 
farms and receiving disaster assistance after tragedy strikes.
  In particular, as the pandemic exacerbated preexisting racial 
disparities, the administration took strong steps to improve outcomes 
for African-Americans with respect to education, healthcare, and 
transportation.
  As we commemorate this historic holiday, I encourage all Americans to 
reflect on the many lessons of the story of Juneteenth and commit 
ourselves to the pursuit of racial justice and reconciliation. If we do 
that, individually and collectively, Juneteenth truly will become a 
Jubilee.

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