Coming Together for Juneteenth the Federal Holiday

America is coming together to let freedom ring for Juneteenth 2022. Now a federal holiday with an exclamation point, we take a look at the progress made two years after the pandemic began and the 2020 events that triggered action and change from tragedy — a nation Socially Sparked® !

The racial inequality issue became front and center in 2020 after nationwide protests in response to the brutal killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by law enforcement. Floyd and Taylor were both Black and their tragic deaths became the catalyst and new symbol for change in racial equality.

The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act was signed into law by President Biden on June 17, 2021. Dubbed Juneteenth it has since become one of the most important Federal holidays of the year. In person celebrations, marches and protests will take place across U.S. cities large and small in 2022.

June 19th marks 147 years since the  emancipation proclamation was enacted to emancipate the slaves.  The year was 1865. The place was Galveston, Texas. The moment in time changed our history forever.

A Look Back: “Coming Together to Let Freedom Ring in 2020”

In the wake of the brutal killing of George Floyd, there is a re-energized and unified spark; a rebirth to the Black Lives Matter movement. African American protesters were joined by citizens of every color, every race, every ethnicity and every minority.

The world watched as the country reacts by speaking and acting out in multiple ways:

• Music Creators – Husband and wife singer-songwriter duo Buddy and Julie Miller created the song “Public Service Song No. 5” “Get Offa My Money” with lyric video in response to their disgust at learning our founding fathers were slave owners. All proceeds of the song and video are earmarked to benefit The Black Lives Matter movement, buy it here.  The song and video premiered June 18^th in American Songwiter.
• Aunt Jemima – The Quaker Oats Company will remove longstanding iconic “Aunt Jemima” from all packaging, starting a trend where other consumer goods giants like General Mills are following suit with their products.
• Black Tuesday, The Show Must Be Paused – an event initiated by the music industry to pause the day became an all industry, al people virtual event.
• Statements – a multitude of American industries, companies and media stressing their support of Black Lives Matter began to pop up on company websites and in consumers’ email inboxes.
• Diversity and Inclusion Department and/or Policies are being crafted by companies large and small.
• The Entertainment Industry- is re-examining their policies and awards shows to answer the country’s unified calls to end systemic racism.
• The Sports Industry – as June19th approaches, Nike and The NFL have declared Juneteenth a holiday. Nascar will no longer tolerate confederate flags. And the list continues to grow.
• New York State – Governor Andrew Cuomo declared this Juneteenth a state holiday for eimpoyees and signed legislation to make the day a state-wide holiday for 2021 and beyond.

2022 marks the first year Americans will celebrate Juneteenth as a Federal Holiday. Americans are coming together to let freedom ring loudly and peacefully in person this Juneteenth Day and beyond. I reiterate here what I wrote in 2020 “It is still way too early to know if the current fever and infection of doing right by doing good for maximum social impact will last. That being said, the tide is changing, the nation is rising up  for Black Lives Matter, racism and equality for all! Forever Socially Sparked! Tweet @sosparked news & @asparks01