Vivek Ramaswamy suggested canceling Juneteenth, calling it a “useless” holiday in a conversation with Iowa voters, NBC News reports.Less than two months ago, however, he posted a video on social media celebrating the day.
“Cancel Juneteenth or one of the other useless ones we made up,” Ramaswamy told an applauding crowd gathered at a welding company here.
Asked by NBC News to clarify whether he thought Juneteenth was a “useless” holiday, Ramaswamy said, “I basically do.”
“We don’t just look back and flog ourselves,” Ramaswamy said in the video June 19, which was posted to his account on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.
As the National Museum of African American History and Culture notes, Juneteenth celebrates the anniversary of when Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, and announced a quarter-million Black people had been freed by executive decree.
One of his competitors, former Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, who is biracial, criticized Ramaswamy for saying he “hopes to cancel a holiday that celebrates equality and freedom.”
On Juneteenth two months ago, the NAACP issued a statement saying, “Today we celebrate our emancipation while also acknowledging that we are still fighting for true freedom.”
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“Cancel Juneteenth or one of the other useless ones we made up,” Ramaswamy told an applauding crowd gathered at a welding company here.
Asked by NBC News to clarify whether he thought Juneteenth was a “useless” holiday, Ramaswamy said, “I basically do.”
“We don’t just look back and flog ourselves,” Ramaswamy said in the video June 19, which was posted to his account on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.
As the National Museum of African American History and Culture notes, Juneteenth celebrates the anniversary of when Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, and announced a quarter-million Black people had been freed by executive decree.
One of his competitors, former Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, who is biracial, criticized Ramaswamy for saying he “hopes to cancel a holiday that celebrates equality and freedom.”
On Juneteenth two months ago, the NAACP issued a statement saying, “Today we celebrate our emancipation while also acknowledging that we are still fighting for true freedom.”
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