WEBVTT 00:00.149 --> 00:05.149 JUDY WOODRUFF: As of tomorrow, Juneteenth, the day marking the end of slavery, is a federal 00:05.520 --> 00:06.520 holiday. 00:06.520 --> 00:10.869 Juneteenth is observed on the 19th of the month, but, because it lands on a Saturday 00:10.869 --> 00:15.869 this year, most federal employees will be able to celebrate this Friday. 00:15.900 --> 00:20.900 For millions, the commemoration is long overdue, and far more significant than another day 00:21.670 --> 00:22.670 off. 00:22.670 --> 00:23.710 Amna Nawaz explains. 00:23.710 --> 00:28.710 AMNA NAWAZ: Judy, Juneteenth is either observed or an official state holiday in 49 states 00:29.550 --> 00:31.130 and the District of Columbia. 00:31.130 --> 00:33.910 The effort to make it a national holiday goes back decades. 00:33.910 --> 00:38.910 But, today, President Biden signed a law making it the first new federal holiday since 1983. 00:39.910 --> 00:44.910 Now, Juneteenth commemorates what took place on June 19, 1865, when union soldiers arrived 00:46.500 --> 00:50.440 in Galveston, Texas, and announced to enslaved Black people that they were free. 00:50.440 --> 00:55.440 That came 2.5 years after the Emancipation Proclamation and two months after the Confederacy 00:56.580 --> 00:57.580 surrendered. 00:57.580 --> 01:01.690 We explore the significance of this moment with Khalil Gibran Muhammad. 01:01.690 --> 01:05.610 He's a professor of history, race, and public policy at Harvard Kennedy School. 01:05.610 --> 01:10.110 He's also the former director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black culture. 01:10.110 --> 01:12.030 Professor Muhammad, welcome to the "NewsHour." 01:12.030 --> 01:13.070 Thanks for being with us. 01:13.070 --> 01:17.150 So, Juneteenth is now added to the list of federal holidays that includes things like 01:17.150 --> 01:21.560 New Year's Day and Martin Luther King Day and Memorial Day, Independence Day. 01:21.560 --> 01:25.180 What's the significance of this day joining this list? 01:25.180 --> 01:28.680 KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD, Harvard Kennedy School: Well, the significance is that, for the first 01:28.680 --> 01:33.680 time in American history, America's original sin -- that is, slavery -- will be center 01:34.409 --> 01:39.409 and a commemorative moment annually that will bring parents and children, teachers and students 01:42.229 --> 01:47.229 and everyday Americans and newcomers alike together, with the hope and possibility that 01:48.400 --> 01:52.530 they will reflect on the meaning of that history, so that we might reconcile with our present. 01:52.530 --> 01:56.210 AMNA NAWAZ: Why do you think that's important, especially at this point in American history? 01:56.210 --> 02:01.210 KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD: Well, in our political climate, where conversations about the fragility 02:03.300 --> 02:08.300 of our democracy, protests around systemic racism, an ongoing climate crisis that will 02:11.260 --> 02:16.260 require all of us to come together across partisan lines, we are facing some serious 02:16.670 --> 02:21.670 existential in this country, of which race and racism in many ways animate so much of 02:23.159 --> 02:24.510 the problem. 02:24.510 --> 02:29.510 And so to have a holiday that could become a way of reminding ourselves of the obligations 02:30.650 --> 02:32.819 that we owe each other, this is a big deal. 02:32.819 --> 02:34.110 AMNA NAWAZ: What about education? 02:34.110 --> 02:38.459 I mean, I know you say the holiday can remind all of us of a history a lot of people don't 02:38.459 --> 02:41.069 learn about in their formal education. 02:41.069 --> 02:44.769 Juneteenth is often not taught in our formal school systems. 02:44.769 --> 02:47.560 You learn about sort of exceptional stories from slavery. 02:47.560 --> 02:50.120 We all know about Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. 02:50.120 --> 02:53.329 Do you think this becoming a federal holiday could change that? 02:53.329 --> 02:57.620 KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD: Well, I think there's a lot of momentum and possibility and movement 02:57.620 --> 02:58.680 in that direction. 02:58.680 --> 03:03.040 Indeed, some of the people who've been organizing for Juneteenth as a national holiday have 03:03.040 --> 03:08.040 centered the holiday around education, wanting to see the recognition of the day itself as 03:08.999 --> 03:11.599 part of the curriculum in American schools. 03:11.599 --> 03:16.599 And so perhaps this is the tip of an iceberg of a more capacious understanding of the American 03:18.989 --> 03:19.989 past. 03:19.989 --> 03:22.650 But I think it's also an important reminder that, in this political moment, states are 03:22.650 --> 03:27.650 passing bills to keep histories like Juneteenth and what they mean out of schools. 03:27.809 --> 03:32.439 And so it's not clear how much this will move forward in curriculum anytime soon. 03:32.439 --> 03:33.989 AMNA NAWAZ: You mentioned this political moment. 03:33.989 --> 03:37.849 We should point out this had overwhelming bipartisan support, which is not something 03:37.849 --> 03:40.169 we get to say often in Washington. 03:40.169 --> 03:41.519 Did that surprise you? 03:41.519 --> 03:43.449 KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD: Yes. 03:43.449 --> 03:45.389 Yes, it did, admittedly. 03:45.389 --> 03:50.389 But, upon further reflection, I think in a Congress that is debating protecting voting 03:51.090 --> 03:56.019 rights for all Americans, making it easier to vote and not harder at the federal level, 03:56.019 --> 04:01.019 questions about how to solve for police violence against unarmed people and other aggressions 04:01.559 --> 04:05.890 directed towards people, this is easier than those -- than that legislation. 04:05.890 --> 04:10.049 And so I do think we have to keep in mind that politics are still at play. 04:10.049 --> 04:14.579 AMNA NAWAZ: You also mentioned, of course, this moment in American national conversations, 04:14.579 --> 04:19.400 when we are talking much more about racism in American history and the systemic racism 04:19.400 --> 04:21.009 that persists today. 04:21.009 --> 04:26.009 Do you think we would be at this moment today had we not had the last year of not just national 04:26.750 --> 04:30.210 protests, but global protests, in response to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis? 04:30.210 --> 04:33.440 KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD: In my opinion, no. 04:33.440 --> 04:38.440 In my opinion, when millions of Americans numbering anywhere from 15 to 26 million, 04:38.450 --> 04:43.450 according to The New York Times, participated in racial justice protests a year ago, the 04:44.150 --> 04:49.150 conversation about the significance of Juneteenth, the anniversary of the Tulsa massacre, its 04:49.199 --> 04:54.199 centennial just passed, have all thrown in sharp relief the urgency of reconciling with 04:55.680 --> 05:00.680 our past in order to make for a different and more just and racial, fully egalitarian 05:01.699 --> 05:02.699 future. 05:02.699 --> 05:05.910 And so I don't believe that this holiday would be where we are at this moment were it not 05:05.910 --> 05:07.350 for all that activity a year ago. 05:07.350 --> 05:11.940 AMNA NAWAZ: Finally, we noted, of course, several states have already commemorated, 05:11.940 --> 05:13.789 have been commemorating Juneteenth in some way. 05:13.789 --> 05:17.250 And, of course, millions of Black Americans have been marking the day for generations. 05:17.250 --> 05:22.000 I wonder what you would say to everyone else in the country, to white Americans, Latinx 05:22.000 --> 05:25.560 Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, about how they should mark this day? 05:25.560 --> 05:27.539 KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD: Yes. 05:27.539 --> 05:32.539 Well, this is a country, the United States of America, that gained its footing in the 05:32.830 --> 05:37.830 world and its wealth and its land on the backs of the indigenous and the enslaved. 05:37.990 --> 05:42.939 And for anyone who claims America as their home, whether it's an old home or an adopted 05:42.939 --> 05:45.539 home, owes a debt to those people. 05:45.539 --> 05:48.189 And, therefore, this is everyone's holiday. 05:48.189 --> 05:51.860 The very notion of freedom itself, of freedom delayed, of freedom aborted, and of freedom 05:51.860 --> 05:56.330 that is fragile is one that we ought to all remind ourselves as much as possible is one 05:56.330 --> 05:59.600 that has to be fought for and to be vigilant guardians of. 05:59.600 --> 06:03.790 AMNA NAWAZ: Professor Khalil Gibran Muhammad of Harvard Kennedy School, thank you so much 06:03.790 --> 06:04.790 for being with us tonight. 06:04.790 --> 06:05.840 KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD: You're very welcome.