Dallas will have its first march in celebration on Juneteenth this year thanks to a group of local organizers who wanted to mark the day that enslaved.
Representative Carl O. Sherman says âMake Juneteenth a state holidayâ
HB 736 Encourages Passage of Juneteenth Holiday
Austin, Texas â Juneteenth was recognized in the State of Texas as an official holiday on January 1, 1980. Currently however, the holiday is considered only a partial staffing holiday and government offices do not officially close on June 19th allowing instead for employees to officially celebrate only by choosing it as one of four optional holidays recognized by Texas.
State Representative Carl O. Shermanâs (D-109) House Bill 736 encourages the passage of a paid Juneteenth holiday for public employees in the State of Texas.
âThis Bill is important in order to fully recognize Juneteenth as an important and recognizable holiday and not merely an added holiday that employees can choose to recognize as an option,â Representative Sherman said.
Community leaders who agree with the goal of more people vaccinated from those same ZIP code areas, stepped into the city fight outside the Fair Park vaccination hub Thursday.
They supported the initial plan from several city council members to aggressively promote vaccine registration in those areas.
The council members asked City Manager T.C. Broadnax for city support in the form of supplies and laptop computers to help volunteers who have already been doing the registration work.
Want to Get on a Vaccine Waitlist?
County health departments have launched waitlists for those who wish to be inoculated and eligible under Phase 1A, 1B, 1C and child care and education staff.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson says city will set up COVID vaccine registration sites
His announcement came hours after South Dallas activists urged elected officials to stop bickering and focus on signing up the most at-risk residents
Claudia Fowler, center, speaks during a press conference conducted by a group of Black advocates as they call for action from Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson to help improve the access to the COVID-19 vaccine for people of color, on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021 outside of Fair Park in Dallas.(Ben Torres / Special Contributor)
Updated at 8:40 p.m. Revised to reflect an announcement from the mayor about vaccine registration hubs.