cometh in the morning. juneteenth marks, both, the long, hard night of slavery, of subjugation. and a promise of [ inaudible ] to come. this is the day of in my view profound weight and profound power. a day, in which, we remember the moral stain, the terrible toll that slavery took on the country. and continues to take. what i have long called america s original sin. also, momentous. vice president kamala harris, the first-black american to hold that office, witnessing and participating in the historic event. throughout history, juneteenth has been known, by many names. jubilee day. freedom day. liberation day.
easy, in some quarters, to be performative, to do a performative gesture, rather than do the real work? do you understand what i am saying? oh, yeah. yeah. there may be an element of that, as well. but we are going to do right by juneteenth. that is to say, to continue to do the things that people that have been celebrating it have done. and that is, make it an educational holiday. to talk about history and all of those things. and we ll continue to fight about voting rights. uh-huh. so, there i i see these things as, you know, i understand a game may be played here. but it s an important day. and there are positive things about it. we are going to take it and run with it. yeah. take look. you take what you can, and you move forward. listen. i did say near unanimous because 14 republicans in the house voted against establishing the holiday. one of them is congressman matt rosendale. and he says, their intent is to replace the fourth of july with this new day. one that wil
replace the fourth of july with this new day. one that will, inevitably, focus on america s darkest moments. juneteenth is not replacing the fourth of july. and you actually think the two holidays complement each other. explain that. they do. they complement one another. i don t i don t know who they are but i know i have no intention, nobody that i know has any intention of replacing the fourth of july. we celebrating juneteenth and the fourth of july when i was growing up. the interesting thing about it. the order that gordon granger issued, general order number three. talks about the end of slavery. but then, he says that the former-enslaved people would occupy would basically be in a state of absolute equality with their former enslavers. he didn t say enslavers, he said masters, but you get the idea. and that s important, because that phrase links to the emancipation proclamation. it links to abraham lincoln, who
honoring the end of slavery. we ll have a dance group, african dancers, live de-jay. we ll have vendors and food and then we ll end the night with fireworks. reporter: deputy mayor johnson is excited to shove off how much is different in the village of roughly 6,300, now 78% black. it is our hope that people will see us for who we are today and recognize that things have changed. we may not be perfect but we re not who we used to be. reporter: but the celebration is not without controversy. thanks to the town s neighbor. you see, the entire village sits in the shadow of the largest confederate monument in the united states, a carving on the side of a mountain in stone mountain park. with its confederate named streets, confederate flags and three acre mountain homage to myth of the so-called lost cause a twisted reinterpretation of the south s defeat in the civil war, to many it is a giant
homes of people all across america. and i know, you know, i sit here every night and i talk to you about these issues. about the insurrection, about racism, whatever, and sometimes i feel like i m preaching. but if i don t say it, who will? and i m not saying it just because i want to say it or i m making things up. this is the truth about america. this is part of our history. so, i m going to keep saying it, as long as i have this platform. and that s going to be for a while. i am a completely emancipated person. so, there ya go. an american. happy juneteenth, y all. president biden calling on americans to view juneteenth as a day of reflection, and fighting for equality for all americans. up next, the woman who literally wrote the book on juneteenth and was at the white house, today, to bear witness.