BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) – Juneteenth will become a paid holiday for City of Buffalo employees beginning next year.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, Masten District Councilman Ulysees Wingo, and Juneteenth committee members announced Friday that June 19 will become a city holiday.
The holiday is to reflect on the struggle of the Black community. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in 1863, it took another two-and-a-half years for the final slaves to be freed in Texas.
"We have been celebrating Juneteenth in Buffalo for 45 years," Brown said Friday at MLK Park. "This is the 45th year and the Buffalo Juneteenth celebration is one of the longest and largest in the world. That is something that we are very proud of."
The announcement comes in the wake of a national discussion about race in America after George Floyd, a Black man in Minnesota, was killed by a white police officer after the officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Three other officers were at the scene. All of the officers were charged with murder.
"The work did not stop for us in 1865," he said. "The work for us to prove our equality and deserve the same justice, freedoms, and liberties, started on June 19, 1865. Here we are, in 2020, and we've made it a holiday…On today, this is not a holiday for us. This is the day that marks the beginning of the work that we have to put into this country."
Wingo urged people to register to vote and to fill out the census to ensure that Black voices are heard.
New York City also declared Juneteenth as a city holiday. Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday declared Juneteenth to be a state holiday and is pushing for it to be an official state holiday next year.
