Juneteenth now a paid holiday for Cook County employees
The Cook County Board voted Thursday to recognize Juneteenth as an official paid holiday for county government employees starting next year, following a year marked by racial justice protests over highprofile killings of Black people.
In 2021, Juneteenth will be designated as one of 14 government holidays granted to all Cook County workers, making it the country’s largest populated county to grant a paid day off to celebrate both Black Americans’ freedom from slavery and their contributions to the nation. Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the measure, which outlines the centuries of mistreatment America has dealt on Black people.
That sullied history stretches to this year’s killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police as well as Ahmaud Arbery’s fatal shooting by two white men, the ordinance acknowledges.
“This year, Cook County and the nation have experienced unprecedented racial and civil unrest,” lead co-sponsor Commissioner Stanley Moore said. “The call to recognize Juneteenth in light of these unfortunate events is stronger than ever. The passage of this ordinance is the first step towards the healing process for African Americans and for all.”
The federal government does not officially recognize Juneteenth as a national holiday, and Chicago’s City Council has instead designated it as a nonbinding day of observance despite previous attempts to make it an official holiday with all offices closed. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said he wants to work with the statehouse to designate Juneteenth as an official state holiday. Nonetheless, this year thousands of Chicagoans working for private employers had the day off, prompting celebrations in the street after a tumultuous month following the death of Floyd, a Black man who died as a white Minneapolis police office knelt on his neck.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, drawing on her roots as a history teacher, said to reporters on Thursday that slavery was America’s “original sin,” noting itwas even enshrined in the Constitution.
“The end of slavery was a milestone in our country’s history — although I would argue that what followed slavery was 100 years of serfdom in the South,” Preckwinkle said. “But anyway, it’s an important milestone to mark.”
Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of Black Americans from slavery on June 19, 1865, when Gen. Gordon Grainger led his troops to Galveston, Texas, and issued an order announcing the end of the Civil War and officially freeing remaining slaves in the state. They had been forced to remain in captivity for years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, and upon their freedom organized a “Jubilee Day” for the next year and following decades.
During Thursday’s board meeting, commissioners reflected on the significance of recognizing a day to celebrate the freedom of a people that American history books and governments have long ignored. Commissioner Deborah Sims said she re members when Martin Luther King Jr. wasn’t honored with an official holiday, and Black history was scarcely recognized in her history books.
“Now we have Dr. King’s birthday, we have Juneteenth and Black Lives Matter are doing a lot of things,” Sims said. “So I can look back on this when I’m older-older and say that my grandchildren have a lot of things when they look in the mirror and can say Black people did a lot of great things in this country.
Moore said he wants history books to follow in the county’s footsteps and “reflect Juneteenth as an American Independence Day.”
The Cook County Board also voted Thursday on sending to committee a symbolic resolution to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the second Monday in October.