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Zero for me. Most of our holidays are not defined by the truth behind historical events but are created to be patriotic in vision. We see it everyday but it’s not surprising that we write history to fulfill our fabricated beliefs.
Well, for those who still work, I suppose holidays are needed, but for those of us who are retired, every day is a holiday - we paid our dues. Still here it goes as long as they are true holidays with businesses closed or double pay for workers to encourage closure:
Labor Day
Election Day
Thanksgiving
Christmas (I'm Jewish but I still enjoy the season)
New Years Civil Rights Day (change from MLK Day, merge with Emancipation Day)
Memorial Day to be combined with Veteran's Day
Fourth of July
In response to Union Victory Day, I'm afraid it won't fly down south, in VA we just got rid of Lee Jackson Day. It might take another 100 years to recognized the Union Victory.
Remind me what MLK or the Civil Rights movement has to do with the freeing of slaves one hundred years prior, that they should be "merged" into one day of commemoration
Here's what I'd like to see:
January 1st: New Years Day (Friday or Monday before/after if it lands on the weekend)
Third Monday in January: Martin Luther King Day
Monday following the Super Bowl: American Football Day
Third Monday in February: President's Day
March/April - Easter/Good Friday/Passover
April 22th: Earth Day (Friday or Monday before/after if it lands on the weekend)
Last Monday in May: Memorial Day
June 19th: Juneteenth (Friday or Monday before/after if it lands on the weekend)
July 4th: Independence Day (Friday or Monday before/after if it lands on the weekend)
First Monday in September: Labor Day
Second Monday In October: Indigenous People Day
First Wednesday in November: Election Day (I agree with others making it on Wednesday to discourage 3 day weekends since its a civic duty)
Fourth Thursday of November: Thanksgiving Day
Friday after Thanksgiving
Christmas Eve (Friday or Monday before/after if it lands on the weekend)
Christmas Day (Friday or Monday before/after if it lands on the weekend)
December 31st: New Year's Eve
This one is pretty good. I think if we have a day off, we should more often have the day before and the day after off too. That way people can get to see their families who don't live nearby. I mean days like New Year's Day--make it a few days off like some other countries do.
Christmas is a traditional season. It shouldn't be just one day off. For a lot of families it's the only time they can get together so they need more time instead of making it so hectic and having crowded airports. It's been a season for hundreds or maybe a thousand years and it commemorates the short days of dark winter. Doesn't matter what you call it and it doesn't need to be religious. Winter Solstice if you want.
No football day, lol. But yes to MLK Day but could give it another name, yes to Presidents Day.
I'd combine Easter/Passover somehow with Earth Day. Rebirth, liberation, caring for the earth. It's a good time of year, weatherwise, so drag it out for a week if you have to to fit them all in. A week in the early spring. People might like to travel for those days and then go back to work/school refreshed.
Memorial Day for those veterans who died in war.
July 4th. Then Labor Day.
Election Day.
Thanksgiving Day (Thursday) plus the day after. Family time.
Veterans Day was left off that list and I would keep it in November to honor our veterans.
I think these days give us time to be together or time to relax and be ourselves and they also provide lessons for kids in school to learn. Most teachers will teach a lesson that explains the holiday, and things like that stick in the minds of the kids better than learning them outside of context from a book.
"U.S. federal employees will be granted a paid holiday on Friday after President Joe Biden signs legislation establishing Juneteenth into law, the Office of Personnel Management said Thursday."
"U.S. federal employees will be granted a paid holiday on Friday after President Joe Biden signs legislation establishing Juneteenth into law, the Office of Personnel Management said Thursday."
Subtract: American Football Day
Add: Election Day.
I would have the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November that everything but essential businesses be closed down, and essential businesses required to schedule that day in such a way to give 3 hours off within voting hours to allow their employees to vote. In other words, Election Day should look like Christmas Eve.
Making Juneteenth a holiday was a good move. Personally I like holidays for this kind of thing better than honoring specific individuals. Nothing against Martin Luther King Jr., but while he was the most famous civil rights activist spokesperson, civil rights was not all his doing by a long shot. It was the doing of many people together. I would make it "Civil Rights Day" so that the point is to reflect on the movements to bring full citizenship to various groups of Americans, not just the African-American civil rights movement.
Subtract: American Football Day
Add: Election Day.
I would have the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November that everything but essential businesses be closed down, and essential businesses required to schedule that day in such a way to give 3 hours off within voting hours to allow their employees to vote. In other words, Election Day should look like Christmas Eve.
Making Juneteenth a holiday was a good move. Personally I like holidays for this kind of thing better than honoring specific individuals. Nothing against Martin Luther King Jr., but while he was the most famous civil rights activist spokesperson, civil rights was not all his doing by a long shot. It was the doing of many people together. I would make it "Civil Rights Day" so that the point is to reflect on the movements to bring full citizenship to various groups of Americans, not just the African-American civil rights movement.
Creating a Civil Rights day that encompasses everybody would be a good move. I would not be in favor, however, of replacing either MLK Day or Juneteenth with the new day (I'm not sure which of the two you were proposing should be replaced).
Juneteenth doesn't celebrate Civil Rights -- it celebrates Human Rights. Civil Rights refer to political and social rights granted to citizens. Enslaved people aren't viewed as citizens and, even after enslaved African Americans were given their freedom in the U.S. on June 19, 1865 in Texas (a state which was one of last holdouts for slavery when the Civil War ended), it would still not be for many more decades before African Americans would gain Civil Rights in the U.S.
Regardless of whether or not Martin Luther King, Jr. deserves all the credit for the fight for Civil Rights in the U.S., he certainly deserves recognition for leading a civil rights movement that focused on nonviolent protest. We can all still learn from Dr. King today, and he deserves to be honored for his stand against violence. I would not disrespect him or his ideals by taking away his day of remembrance.
Creating a Civil Rights day that encompasses everybody would be a good move. I would not be in favor, however, of replacing either MLK Day or Juneteenth with the new day (I'm not sure which of the two you were proposing should be replaced).
Juneteenth doesn't celebrate Civil Rights -- it celebrates Human Rights. Civil Rights refer to political and social rights granted to citizens. Enslaved people aren't citizens and, even after enslaved African Americans were given their freedom in the U.S. on June 19, 1865 in Texas (a state which was one of last holdouts for slavery when the Civil War ended), it would still not be for many more decades before African Americans would gain Civil Rights in the U.S.
Regardless of whether or not MLK deserves all the credit for the fight for Civil Rights in the U.S., he certainly deserves recognition for leading a civil rights movement that focused on nonviolent protest. We can all still learn from Dr. King today, and he deserves to be honored for his stand against violence. I would not disrespect him or his ideals by taking away his day of remembrance.
Right, Juneteenth is a great day to set aside to reflect on slavery, what it meant to end it, and its aftereffects. The way labor day is supposed to be about the labor movement.
Yeah, I've got nothing against MLK day. It's here to stay. I just prefer not to celebrate individuals that much; think it's tacky. MLK is looked at now kind of like a saint and he had his own complications. It's not impossible that 100 years from now, some political change will happen and people will want to pull down his statues, the way statues were pulled down of the old Catholic saints during the reformation or confederate heroes statues were torn down. Iconoclasm can be a thing, which is why I demur from celebrating individuals all that much.
It's more accurate to say MLK was the civil rights movement's most famous spokesperson. Not to say he wasn't important, he most certainly was. I just think focusing on him so much takes away from the fact it was a movement. I feel the same way about people like Washington wrt the American Revolution, etc... In a lot of ways the movements they are famous for pulled them, not the other way around. But I suppose if we had to choose an individual to represent civil rights, MLK is better than anyone else.
Right, Juneteenth is a great day to set aside to reflect on slavery, what it meant to end it, and its aftereffects. The way labor day is supposed to be about the labor movement.
Yeah, I've got nothing against MLK day. It's here to stay. I just prefer not to celebrate individuals that much; think it's tacky. MLK is looked at now kind of like a saint and he had his own complications. It's not impossible that 100 years from now, some political change will happen and people will want to pull down his statues, the way statues were pulled down of the old Catholic saints during the reformation or confederate heroes statues were torn down. Iconoclasm can be a thing, which is why I demur from celebrating individuals all that much.
It's more accurate to say MLK was the civil rights movement's most famous spokesperson. Not to say he wasn't important, he most certainly was. I just think focusing on him so much takes away from the fact it was a movement. I feel the same way about people like Washington wrt the American Revolution, etc... In a lot of ways the movements they are famous for pulled them, not the other way around. But I suppose if we had to choose an individual to represent civil rights, MLK is better than anyone else.
I hear you. I'm not so keen on celebrating individuals either -- whether it's with a holiday or a statue. It borders on idolatry in many ways (speaking from a religious viewpoint), and on single-minded hero-worship (speaking from most any other viewpoint).
As you say, MLK's day is here to stay. Washington's day (already a Federal holiday) and Lincoln's day (a holiday only in some states) seem to be more and more leaning towards consolidation into a nation-wide "Presidents' Day," and there appears to be little objection to that. Granted, MLK was no saint (few people are), but he represented an underclass in this country, and to do away with MLK day would be perceived as an injustice.
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