The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 at its Sept. 6 meeting to create a Juneteenth holiday for County employees.
Juneteenth, short for June Nineteenth, marks the date the last slaves were freed in Galveston, Texas, in 1865. The Biden Administration approved Juneteenth as a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, making it the first federal holiday approved since the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was created in 1983.
“I am proud that Pima County employees now will have the opportunity to honor and celebrate Juneteenth as a holiday in June every year,” said District 5 Supervisor Adelita Grijalva. “Pima County residents have celebrated Juneteenth for 52 years as a community and the passing of the Juneteenth Holiday in Pima County is long overdue."
“Juneteenth is a movement, not a moment,” she added. “The holiday is a reminder to all of us, that freedom and justice in the United States has often been delayed for black Americans and that we must always fight for the rights and freedoms of those most vulnerable in our community.”
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