The reason your bank was closed yesterday: cultural appropriation and virtue signaling

On February 25, 2021, Senator Edward J. Markey (D – Mass) introduced a bill which would become public law on June 17, 2021 under President Joe Biden.  It was entitled the “Juneteenth National Independence Day Act”.

The Democrat-led initiative was co-sponsored by 60 senators, 40 of whom were Democrats.  Of the 20 republicans joining the chorus of “please close my bank one more day a year” was Florida Republican Marco Rubio.   It was passed in the Senate by unanimous consent, bringing Florida Republican Rick Scott along in the “close my bank” choir.

In the House of Representatives the bill was not passed unanimously…14 Republicans objected to closing your bank for another day…sadly none from Florida.

Yes, ALL Florida Republican Representatives (Bilirakis, Buchanan, Cammack, Diaz-Balart, Donalds, Dunn, Franklin, Gaetz, Gimenez, Mast, Posey, Rutherford, Salazar, Waltz and Webster) teamed up with Florida Democrats to close your bank today.

So what is worth another paid holiday for Federal and State Government workers, US Postal Employees, and Banks?

Texas history is the basis for Junteenth.  Texans will tell you that for decades, some people of color refused to work in Texas on this day.  The State made Juneteenth an official holiday in 1980.

Why?  After the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of Tennessee were both surrendered in April, 1865, Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith continued to resist with his Army of the Trans-Mississippi.  On June 2, 1865, Smith would officially surrender at Galveston.  Smith would escape to Mexico, and Federal troops would occupy the town.

US Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger was given command of the Military District of Texas.  Upon entering the City of Galveston, on June 19 Gen. Granger issued General Order No 3 which was read to the people of Galveston, Texas.  It stated:

“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”

This military Order, of course, preceded 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and so, many argue, had no legal or permanent significance.

Others assert that the Order just repeated President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which was issued 2 1/2 years earlier on January 1s, 1863…and it just ‘took a while’ for them to get the word.

The only problem with that argument is that the carefully worded Proclamation (Lincoln was a lawyer you may recall), was a war measure ‘to suppress the rebellion’ in geographical areas, including the entire state of Texas, where he had not legal authority in 1863. Also, don’t forget that Lincoln allowed slavery to remain in States that were loyal to the Union when he issued the Proclamation in 1863.

So Gen. Granger seemingly jumped the gun,..arguably exceeding the scope of Lincoln’s Proclamation.

However, Lincoln was not alive to rebuke Grainger, and his successor POTUS 17, Andrew Jonson ushered in what became known as “Radical Reconstruction”.

But let’s not let actual historical facts or anything else get in the way of another taxpayer funded day off!

18 years ago, in 2004, the National Taxpayers Union criticized then Pres. George Bush for giving off an extra paid Federal Holiday saying the cost of lost productivity and overtime likely would top $450 million.

Incidentally, the newly-minded syndrome of “Cultural appropriation” is defined as the use of objects or elements of a non-dominant culture in a way that reinforces stereotypes or contributes to oppression and doesn’t give credit to their sources.  It also includes the unauthorized use of parts of their culture without permission.

Did Texans give their permission for Massachusetts Senator Markey, the US Government and all Federal Banks to appropriate their State holiday?  Do the “bank closed” signs credit Texas for the reason they are closed?  Not likely. But let’s not worry about hypocrisy either.

So when election day rolls around, remember who was and who was not interested in historical facts and who is and is not willing to appropriate and politicize history for political profit at the taxpayer expense….that is unless you work for a bank and want another paid day off!


Lola Sanchez

Lola Sanchez is an independent historian in Florida.

6 Comments

  • Tom Wiggins says:

    Nice work Mrs. Sanchez!
    Unfortunately we more or less have to vote for dirt bag republicans or else it’s a vote for a demorat.
    Before tyrannical reconstruction, one could vote by not voting, if no candidate was worthy. A candidate would need to secure a majority of votes from registered voters, if not there would be another election. Since then, a candidate can get 1 vote out of 100,000,000 registered voters and win. This fact is not lost on politicians. What a shame.

  • David LeBeau says:

    “Juneteenth a celebration of nothing” by the way, good work Lola Sanchez.

  • William Quinton Platt III says:

    Juneteenth contradicts every black historian who ever cobbled two sentences together. When asked why the slaves didn’t revolt during the War, black historians rolled out the “plantation grapevine” theory…which said slaves KNEW before their masters the news of the War…the slaves KNEW the north would win and KNEW they’d be freed as a result. You can find this supernatural spread of information everywhere except for Galveston.

    Hopefully, some good can come from this. The embarrassment of mlk can be discarded…already biographers of mlk are abandoning his worship. Cheerleading for a rape has consequences…of course, cheating serially through divinity school and on your wife should have disqualified him for any national honors. In the civil war we are currently experiencing, the globoccultists/communists understand truth is the first casualty. Christians do not understand how their enemies operate…but we don’t have to understand them. Lies always reveal themselves…just as the juneteenth lie reveals the lie of why the slaves didn’t revolt.

    The slaves didn’t revolt because they loved their masters. BT Washington confirms this fact in his autobiography, which is free for all to read at the Library of Congress.

  • Hugh says:

    Dear Ms. Sanchez,
    Thank you for your article, I thought it was to the point. Our government pandering to a particular section of the population is nothing new. Statesmen have gone extinct the communist have control of the seat of power.
    Regards of the day
    Hugh MCDanel

  • ABeanGrower&GrassMower says:

    “Also, don’t forget that Lincoln allowed slavery to remain in States that were loyal to the Union when he issued the Proclamation in 1863.”
    He certainly did; and don’t forget, right in the middle of a war to supposedly end slavery, he admitted Virginia’s western counties to the Union as a slave state June 20th 1863.

    It’s really a genius move to co-opt slavery.

    • David Sweatt says:

      I would like to have a shorter version of your piece to submit as a letter to the editor of our local paper.

      Do you have, or could you prepare, a 300 word piece that would fit that setting?

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