NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday that Juneteenth will become an official city and school holiday in New York City.
"Starting next year, Juneteenth will be an official city holiday, an official New York City schools holiday," the mayor said.
"We'll work with all the unions to work through the plan, give this day the importance and recognition it deserves. Every city worker every student will have the opportunity to reflect the meaning of our history and the truth," the mayor said.
Juneteenth marks the day on June 19, 1865, that Union soldiers told enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, that the Civil War had ended and they were free. The Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in the South in 1863 but it was not enforced in many places until after the end of the Civil War in 1865.
De Blasio said designating Juneteenth as a holiday "is just a beginning" and that the city has "a lot more to do."
"In too many ways, discrimination is alive and well today. Structural racism pervades this city in ways that are still not acknowledged or recognized, and we have to change that, and it's going to be a very difficult and challenging process," the mayor said.
First Lady Chirlane McCray also announced the city was forming a Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission.
McCray said the commission will "establish a definitive, historical record of racial discrimination in New York City."
"This commission is designed to provide New Yorkers a platform to voice their experiences. It will also promote social learning, collective introspection and other measures to tear down the barriers to true equality," McCray said.
She said the commission will identify policy areas where discrimination exists, including in employment, housing, criminal justice, environment, education and health.
"Even in 2020, to be a person of color means to live a parallel existence with white New Yorkers," McCray said. "That reality needs to be understood beyond communities of color. That truth must inform the curricula in our schools, our history books, the memorials we honor and even how we perceive one another."
The announcements come amid ongoing protests over racism and policing in the United States and around the world.
De Blasio also announced that five Black Lives Matter murals will be created at these locations across the city:
- Centre Street in Manhattan
- Richmond Terrance in Staten Island
- Joralemon Street in Brooklyn
- 153rd Street in Queens
- Morris Avenue in the Bronx
"The city of New York is saying loudly, clearly, consistently, 'Black Lives Matter,' and we will back up that belief with action after action after action," the mayor said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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