Yesterday is a canceled check. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is cash.
If you've recovered from whiplash, then welcome to our new national holiday, Juneteenth. There will be very little waiting for "effective next calendar year" this time. The bill was passed by the Senate on Tuesday, by the House on Wednesday, signed by the president Thursday, and many Federal workers had Friday off. This just proves government can move fast when speed serves its political purposes.
I've got no problem with Juneteenth. I had never heard of it until last year, but after I learned about it I agree that it's important. However, I'd feel better about adding a new Federal holiday if Columbus Day could be left alone. That's our history, too.
Slavery in America ended almost two centuries ago. Show me another country that ever fought such a long and bloody battle to end it. Our Civil War was followed a century later by the Civil Rights movement and the heroic efforts of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to achieve equal rights for all Americans regardless of race. Look at the stature of our Black leaders today, including a former president--who is actually half-White, a salient fact that always remains background noise. Black Supreme Court justices, national security advisors, military leaders and heroes, senators, congressmen, professors, writers, sports legends are among our most renowned national figures.
To say that Blacks in America today are oppressed is outright ridiculous. Furthermore (take note, BLM activists), the American people--including Black people--know it's ridiculous.
As I was channel-jumping on my car radio this week, I heard a brilliant proposal put forth. The speaker (name unknown) was talking about the reparations controversy. He offered this resolution: "Every slave owner in America today should pay every slave in America." I laughed, but the preposterous nature of that concept proves how far we as a nation have traveled on the road to progress.
We are not a perfect union; we are only a "more perfect union" than we had been in the distant past. Slavery has been in our rear view mirror for many generations. Let's learn and remember the hard lessons from it, of course. But let's live now, today, in our current day and time, and keep trying to do better as a nation. Happy Juneteenth.
