Transcript - Remarks: Joe Biden Signs Legislation for Juneteenth Federal Holiday - June 17, 2021 | Factba.se

Kamala Harris

00:00:00 - 00:00:08 ()

Good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon.

Kamala Harris

00:00:08 - 00:00:28 ()

So, throughout history, Juneteenth has been known by many names: Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, Liberation Day, Emancipation Day, and, today, a national holiday. [Applause] [Motioning to the audience] Ms. Opal Lee. [Audience]

Kamala Harris

00:00:28 - 00:01:29 ()

And looking out across this room, I see the advocates, the activists, the leaders who have been calling for this day for so long, including the one and only Ms. Opal Lee -- [Applause] -- [the President walks into the audience to greet Ms. Lee] -- [laughter] -- who just received a very special recognition from the President of the United States. [Laughter]

Joe Biden

00:01:29 - 00:01:29 ()

Kamala Harris

00:01:29 - 00:01:59 ()

And I see members of Congress, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, members of the United States Senate who passed this bill unanimously, and all -- [Applause] -- and all of whom, collectively, were responsible for delivering this bill to the President's desk. And I thank you all. We thank you all. Your nation thanks you all.

Kamala Harris

00:01:59 - 00:02:25 ()

And, you know, when we establish a national holiday, it makes an important statement. National holidays are something important. These are days when we, as a nation, have decided to stop and take stock and, often, to acknowledge our history.

Kamala Harris

00:02:25 - 00:02:41 ()

And so, as we establish Juneteenth as our newest national holiday, let us be clear about what happened on June 19, 1865 -- the day we call "Juneteenth."

Kamala Harris

00:02:41 - 00:03:03 ()

Because, you see, that day was not the end of slavery in America. Yes, on that day, the enslaved people of Galveston, Texas learned that they were free. But, in fact, two and a half years earlier, the Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery in the Confederacy.

Kamala Harris

00:03:03 - 00:03:21 ()

So think about that. For more than two years, the enslaved people of Texas were kept in servitude. For more than two years, they were intentionally kept from their freedom. For more than two years.

Kamala Harris

00:03:21 - 00:03:46 ()

And then, on that summer day 156 years ago, the enslaved people of Texas learned the news. They learned that they were free, and they claimed their freedom. It was indeed an important day. [Applause]

Kamala Harris

00:03:46 - 00:04:00 ()

And still, let us also remember, that day was not the end of slavery in America. The truth is it would be six more months before the 13th Amendment was ratified, before enslaved people

Kamala Harris

00:04:00 - 00:04:03 ()

in the South and the North were free.

Kamala Harris

00:04:03 - 00:04:31 ()

So as we commemorate the history of Juneteenth -- as we did just weeks ago with the history of the Tulsa Race Massacre -- we must learn from our history and we must teach our children our history because it is part of our history as a nation. It is a part of American history.

Kamala Harris

00:04:31 - 00:04:55 ()

So let me end by saying this: We are gathered here in a house built by enslaved people. We are footsteps away from where President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. And we are here to witness President Joe Biden establish Juneteenth as a national holiday.

Kamala Harris

00:04:55 - 00:05:09 ()

We have come far. And we have far to go. But today is a day of celebration. It is not only a day of pride, it is also a day for us to reaffirm and rededicate ourselves to action.

Kamala Harris

00:05:09 - 00:05:13 ()

And, with that, I say: Happy Juneteenth, everybody. [Applause]

Kamala Harris

00:05:13 - 00:05:18 ()

And with that, I introduce the President of the United States, Joe Biden. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:05:18 - 00:05:21 ()

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Joe Biden

00:05:21 - 00:05:40 ()

Well, thank you, Madam Vice President.

Joe Biden

00:05:40 - 00:06:27 ()

One hundred and fifty-six years ago -- one hundred and fifty-six years -- June 19th, 1865 -- John, thanks for being here -- a major general of the Union Army arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation and free the last enslaved Americans in Texas from bondage. A day, as you all know -- I'm going to repeat some of what was said -- that became known as Juneteenth. You all know that. A day that reflects what the Psalm tell us: "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

Joe Biden

00:06:27 - 00:06:48 ()

Juneteenth marks both the long, hard night of slavery and subjugation, and a promise of a brighter morning to come. This is a day of profound -- in my view -- profound weight and profound power.

Joe Biden

00:06:48 - 00:07:04 ()

A day in which we remember the moral stain, the terrible toll that slavery took on the country and continues to take -- what I've long called "America's original sin."

Joe Biden

00:07:04 - 00:07:24 ()

At the same time, I also remember the extraordinary capacity to heal, and to hope, and to emerge from the most painful moments and a bitter, bitter version of ourselves, but to make a better version of ourselves.

Joe Biden

00:07:24 - 00:07:55 ()

You know, today, we consecrate Juneteenth for what it ought to be, what it must be: a national holiday. As the Vice President noted, a holiday that will join the others of our national celebrations: our independence, our laborers who built this nation, our servicemen and women who served and died in its defense. And the first new national holiday since the creation of Martin Luther King Holiday nearly four decades ago.

Joe Biden

00:07:55 - 00:08:04 ()

I am grateful to the members of Congress here today -- in particular, the Congressional Black Caucus, who did so much to make this day possible.

Joe Biden

00:08:04 - 00:08:23 ()

I'm especially pleased that we showed the nation that we can come together as Democrats and Republicans to commemorate this day with the overwhelming bipartisan support of the Congress. I hope this is the beginning of a change in the way we deal with one another.

Joe Biden

00:08:23 - 00:08:40 ()

And we're blessed -- we're blessed to mark the day in the presence of Ms. Opal Lee. As my mother would say, "God love her." [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:08:40 - 00:09:00 ()

I had the honor of meeting her in Nevada more than a year ago. She told me she loved me, and I believed it. [Laughter] I wanted to believe it. [Laughs] Ms. Opal, you're incredible. A daughter of Texas. Grandmother of the movement to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.

Joe Biden

00:09:00 - 00:09:13 ()

And Ms. Opal is -- you won't believe it -- she's 49 years old. [Laughter] Or 94 years old, but I -- [laughter]. You are an incredible woman, Ms. Opal. You really are.

Joe Biden

00:09:13 - 00:09:39 ()

As a child growing up in Texas, she and her family would celebrate Juneteenth. On Juneteenth, 1939, when she was 12 years old, the white -- a white mob torched her family home. But such hate never stopped her any more than it stopped the vast majority of you I'm looking at from this podium.

Joe Biden

00:09:39 - 00:09:57 ()

Over the course of decades, she's made it her mission to see that this day came. It was almost a singular mission. She's walked for miles and miles, literally and figuratively, to bring attention to Juneteenth, to make this day possible.

Joe Biden

00:09:57 - 00:10:28 ()

I ask, once again, we all stand and give her a warm welcome to the White House. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:10:28 - 00:10:45 ()

As they still say in the Senate and I said for 36 years, "if you excuse me there for a point of personal privilege," as I was walking down, I regret that my grandchildren aren't here because this is a really, really, really important moment in our history.

Joe Biden

00:10:45 - 00:11:02 ()

By making Juneteenth a federal holiday, all Americans can feel the power of this day, and learn from our history, and celebrate progress, and grapple with the distance we've come but the distance we have to travel, Jim.

Joe Biden

00:11:02 - 00:11:37 ()

You know, I said a few weeks ago, marking the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, great nations don't ignore their most painful moments. Great nations don't ignore their most painful moments. They don't ignore those moments of the past. They embrace them. Great nations don't walk away. We come to terms with the mistakes we made. And in remembering those moments, we begin to heal and grow stronger.

Joe Biden

00:11:37 - 00:11:55 ()

The truth is, it's not -- simply not enough just to commemorate Juneteenth. After all, the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans didn't mark the end of America's work to deliver on the promise of equality; it only marked the beginning.

Joe Biden

00:11:55 - 00:12:13 ()

To honor the true meaning of Juneteenth, we have to continue toward that promise because we've not gotten there yet. The Vice President and I and our entire administration and all of you in this room are committed to doing just that.

Joe Biden

00:12:13 - 00:12:30 ()

That's why we've launched an aggressive effort to combat racial discrimination in housing -- finally address the cruel fact that a home owned, to this day, by a Black American family is usually appraised at a lower rate for a similar home owned by a white family in a similar area.

Joe Biden

00:12:30 - 00:12:38 ()

That's why we committed to increasing Black homeownership, one of the biggest drivers of generational wealth.

Joe Biden

00:12:38 - 00:12:53 ()

That's why we're making it possible for more Black entrepreneurs to access -- to access capital, because their ideas are as good; they lack the capital to get their fair -- and get their fair share of federal contracts so they can begin to build wealth.

Joe Biden

00:12:53 - 00:13:00 ()

That's why we're working to give each and every child, three and four years of age, not daycare, but school -- in a school. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:13:00 - 00:13:28 ()

That's why -- that's why we're unlocking the incredibly creative and innovation -- innovation of the history -- of our Historical Black Colleges and Universities, providing them with the resources to invest in research centers and laboratories to help HBCU graduates prepare and compete for good-paying jobs in the industries of the future.

Joe Biden

00:13:28 - 00:14:03 ()

Folks, the promise of equality is not going to be fulfilled until we become real -- it becomes real in our schools and on our Main Streets and in our neighborhoods -- our healthcare system and ensuring that equity is at the heart of our fight against the pandemic; in the water that comes out of our faucets and the air that we breathe in our communities; in our justice system -- so that we can fulfill the promise of America for all people. All of our people.

Joe Biden

00:14:03 - 00:14:20 ()

And it's not going to be fulfilled so long as the sacred right to vote remains under attack. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:14:20 - 00:14:29 ()

We see this assault from restrictive laws, threats of intimidation, voter purges, and more -- an assault that offends the very democracy -- our very democracy.

Joe Biden

00:14:29 - 00:14:41 ()

We can't rest until the promise of equality is fulfilled for every one of us in every corner of this nation. That, to me, is the meaning of Juneteenth. That's what it's about.

Joe Biden

00:14:41 - 00:14:55 ()

So let's make this June- -- this very Juneteenth, tomorrow -- the first that our nation will celebrate all together, as one nation -- a Juneteenth of action on many fronts.

Joe Biden

00:14:55 - 00:15:15 ()

One of those is vaccinations. Tomorrow, the Vice President will be in Atlanta on a bus tour, helping to spread the word, like all of you have been doing, on lifesaving vaccines.

Joe Biden

00:15:15 - 00:15:35 ()

And across the country this weekend, including here in Washington, people will be canvassing and hosting events in their communities, going door-to-door, encouraging vaccinations.

Joe Biden

00:15:35 - 00:16:01 ()

We've built equity into the heart of the vaccination program from day one, but we still have more work to do to close the racial gap in vaccination rates. The more we can do that, the more we can save lives.

Joe Biden

00:16:01 - 00:16:34 ()

Today also marks the sixth anniversary of the tragic deaths of -- at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina. A killer motivated by hate, intending to start a race war in South Carolina. He joined his victims in a Bible study class, then he took their lives in the house of worship.

Joe Biden

00:16:34 - 00:17:03 ()

It's a reminder that our work to root out hate never ends -- because hate only hides, it never fully goes away. It hides. And when you breathe oxygen under that rock, it comes out.

Joe Biden

00:17:03 - 00:17:44 ()

And that's why we must understand that Juneteenth represents not only the commemoration of the end of slavery in America more than 150 years ago, but the ongoing work to have to bring true equity and racial justice into American society, which we can do.

Joe Biden

00:17:44 - 00:17:53 ()

In short, this day doesn't just celebrate the past; it calls for action today.

Joe Biden

00:17:53 - 00:18:17 ()

I wish all Americans a happy Juneteenth. I am shortly going to -- in a moment, going to sign into law, making it a federal holiday.

Joe Biden

00:18:17 - 00:19:41 ()

And I have to say to you, I've only been President for several months, but I think this will go down, for me, as one of the greatest honors I will have had as President, not because I did it; you did it -- Democrats and Republicans. But it's an enormous, enormous honor.

Joe Biden

00:19:41 - 00:20:17 ()

Thank you for what you've done. And, by the way, typical of most of us in Congress and the Senate, I went down to the other end of the hall first and thanked your staffs because I know who does the hard work. [Laughter and applause] They're down there. They're at the other end, but I thanked them as well.

Joe Biden

00:20:17 - 00:20:36 ()

May God bless you all. And may God protect our troops. Thank you. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:20:36 - 00:20:58 ()

Now, I'd like to invite up, while I sign, Senator Tina Smith, Senator Ed Markey, Senator Raphael Warnock, Senator John Cornyn, Whip [DEL: John :DEL] [Jim] Clyburn, Representative Barbara Lee, Representative Danny Davis, Chair Joyce Beatty, and Sheila Jackson Lee, and Ms. Opal.

Joe Biden

00:20:58 - 00:20:58 ()

[The act is signed] [Applause]