Grant said she had been thrilled by the rapid vote that week by Congress to make Juneteenth a federal holiday since"it has been a long time coming"
However she added that"we want Congress to safeguard voting rights, and that should occur right now so we do not regress any farther. That's the main thing Congress could be addressing at the moment."
"This day does not only celebrate the past. It requires action now," Biden said before he created Juneteenth National Independence Day.
Biden singled out voting rights as a place for action.
Republican-led countries have enacted or are thinking of legislation which activists assert would curtail the right to vote, especially for people of colour. Legislation to deal with voting rights problems, and institute policing reforms required following the killing of George Floyd and other unarmed Black men, remains stalled in the Congress that acted quickly on the Juneteenth charge.
Other individuals need the national government to make reparations or monetary payments to the descendants of slaves in an effort to compensate for all those wrongs. Meanwhile, attempts are afoot through the nation to restrict what college districts educate about the history of slavery in the united states.
Community organizer Kimberly Holmes-Ross, that helped create her hometown of Evanston, Illinois, the initial U.S. town to pay reparations, stated she had been pleased about the new national holiday as it is going to lead more people to find out about Juneteenth.
But she'd have enjoyed Congress to act on anti-lynching laws or voter protections .
"I'm not super stoked just because all the other things which are going on," explained Holmes-Ross, 57. "You have not addressed what we actually must discuss."