Name Blame

I fully support creating a day to celebrate the abolition of slavery, a dark portion of our nation's history. However, naming this day 'National Independence Day' will create confusion and push Americans to pick one of those two days as their independence day based on their racial identity.

Why can't we name this Emancipation Day, and come together as Americans, and celebrate that day together as Americans: black and white, all colors, all races, all ethnicities, and then come together on Independence Day, which celebrates the creation of our country throwing off an oppressive government.
Representative Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky

Firstly, I have difficulty understanding why "National Independence Day" and "Independence Day" are going to be that confusing to anyone older than eight years of age. Sure, had someone consulted with me, I myself would have recommended "Emancipation Day," but then again, were it not in September, I'd have been in favor of making the date coincide with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation itself, rather than the date that news of it finally made it Galveston, Texas. And the idea that people are going to be pushed to chose between them strikes me as vapid. Once employers start offering the day as time off from work, I'm pretty sure people will be happy to have both of them.

And so, secondly, what stops Americans of "all colors, all races, all ethnicities" from having one party on or around June 19th and then a second one on or around July 4th? One would think that it would take more than similar names to do that.

In the end, this strikes me as the problem with ignoring open political pandering. When it seems stupid to people who aren't being pandered to, the supposed audience of the pander seem stupid, too. When Representatives Paul Gosar (R-Arizona) and Matt Rosendale (R-Montana) mount their soapboxes to make claims about "racial divisions" and "Critical Race Theory" it's easy, I think, for people to conclude that their constituencies eat this stuff up because they're racist, backwards and hostile. Especially, when out of 262 Republican members of Congress (Senators and Representatives) only 14 of them voted against the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. Clearly opposition to this wasn't a priority for national Republicans. The fact that this small group of Representative chose this particular hill to die on likely says something, even if I'm not exactly sure what.

But here's the thing. This bill needed to make it out of a House committee. Surely Representative Massie, Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas) or Representative Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) could have caught someone's ear and made their suggestions for a name change. And if these guys are far enough out of step with the rest of the Republican caucus that this wasn't an option for them, maybe they should do a better job of making contacts of their fellow Republicans.