New York Makes Juneteenth A Holiday For State Employees

JAMAICA, QUEENS — Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order Wednesday to make Juneteenth, which commemorates the emancipation of Black Americans from slavery, a holiday for state employees and says he will push to make it a state holiday next year.

"Although slavery ended over 150 years ago, there has still been rampant, systemic discrimination and injustice in this state and this nation, and we have been working to enact real reforms to address these inequalities," Cuomo said.

To New York Assembly Member Alicia Hyndman, a Black woman who represents southeastern Queens, the announcement was a "Columbusing" of her own bill to designate Juneteenth as an official holiday — and an example of how Black voices are silenced and their efforts co-opted.

"Now instead of uplifting blackness in a historical moment in history - you steal my bill and give me no credit?" Hyndman wrote in a series of tweets Wednesday, which she later deleted. "A black woman introduces legislation to commemorate her people's beginning journey to freedom and the white patriarchy still finds a way to silence those efforts."

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform enslaved Black Americans that the Civil War was over and slavery had been abolished.

Hyndman introduced a bill to make Juneteenth a state holiday last week.

"As a state, it is our duty to recognize and celebrate June Nineteenth not only by adopting resolutions, but by pausing statewide to acknowledge and reflect on a day that changed the trajectory of the lives of most Blacks and African Americans being held as slaves in U.S.," a memo about Hyndman's bill reads.

Shortly after Hyndman posted the tweets criticizing Cuomo, the governor's office published a news release on the Juneteenth executive order that included a statement from her.

Hyndman said later that Cuomo had "course corrected" by acknowledging her statements.

"I think it’s important to acknowledge when one course corrects in this work," she wrote on Twitter. "It is the only thing that bridges the gaps of our diversity."

The silencing of black voices can’t leave 2020 though. Black employees, consultants, members, please do yourself & those around you a service & find adequate ways to advocate for yourself. It is the most radical thing you can do in a world of oppression. Love u all. #Juneteenth
— Alicia Hyndman (@AliciaHyndman) June 17, 2020