>> "NEW YORK TIMES" WHITE HOUSE
CORRESPONDENT ANNIE KARNI, GOOD
TO SEE YOU.
THANKS VERY MUCH.
>> THANK YOU.
>>> MANY PEOPLE ARE JUST
LEARNING ABOUT THIS HOLIDAY
MARKING THE DEFEAT OF SLAVERY,
PERHAPS YOU TOO.
WELL, YOURE DEFINITELY NOT
ALONE IF THATS THE CASE.
TV SHOWS LIKE ATLANTA"ATLANTA" O
AND "BLACK-ISH" ON NBC
INTRODUCED JUNETEENTH TO
MAINSTREAM AUDIENCES.
"BLACK-ISH" TALK ABOUT IT.
>> LOOK, PEOPLE ARE NEVER GOING
TO CELEBRATE SOMETHING THEY
BARELY EVEN WANT TO ADMIT
HAPPENED.
>> LOOK, I GET THAT, BUT AT
LEAST CAN WE HAVE ONE DAY WHERE
THE COUNTRY ACKNOWLEDGED IT?
IT WOULD FEEL LIKE, I DONT
KNOW, AN TECHNOLOGY.
>> WOW.
CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT?
>> OH, HELL NO.
>> RECEIVED IN EVIDENCE WAITING
FOR AN APOLOGY, WHY DONT WE DO
SOMETHING?
IF WE WANT TO HONOR THE END OF
SLAVERY, WE SHOULD CELEBRATE
JUNETEENTH.
>> WAIT, THATS WHAT JUNETEENTH
IS?
>> YEAH, THATS A COMMON
REACTION.
THATS WHAT SURFACE BUT A VERY
COMMON REACTION.
A GALLOP POLL THIS WEEK SHOWS
62% OF GULTS SAY THEY ONLY KNOW
A LITTLE BIT OR NOTHING AT ALL
ABOUT JUNETEENTH.
HERES WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.
JUNETEENTH COMMEMORATES A
PIVOTAL MOMENT AT THE END OF THE
CIVIL WAR IN 1865.
IT HAD BEEN TWO YEARS SINCE
PRESIDENT LINCOLN ISSUED THE
EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION AND
TWO MONTHS AFTER THE CONFEDERACY
SURRENDERED.
MAJOR GENERAL GORDON GRANGER OF
THE UNION ARMY RODE INTO
GALVESTON, TEXAS, AND READ THAT
GENERAL ORDER WENDING AT THE REA
OF THE SHOW THAT ALL ENSLAVED
PEOPLE WERE NOW FREE.
SIX MONTHS LATER, CONGRESS
PASSED THE 13th AMENDMENT.
IT FORMALLY ABOLISHED SLAVERY IN
THE U.S. EXCEPT AS FULL TIME FOR
CRIMES.
>>> LETS CONTINUE WITH JANEL
ROSS, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT FOR
"TIME" MAGAZINE AND SHES IN THE
ROOM.
I CAN REACH -- ITS LIKE YOURE
HERE.
ITS CRAZY.
GLAD TO SEE YOU.
NOT JUST BECAUSE YOURE A PERSON
IN THE ROOM SITTING NEXT TO ME,
BUT ALSO JUST BECAUSE OF THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS DAY.
WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF JUNETEENTH
BECOMING A HOLIDAY, NOT JUST AT
ALL, BUT RIGHT NOW FOR THIS TO
HAPPEN?
>> I MEAN, CERTAINLY I THINK THE
EVENTS OF 2020 HAVE EVERYTHING
TO DO WITH WHY THIS HAS
HAPPENED, OR CERTAINLY A LOT TO
DO WITH WHY THIS HAPPENED LAST
YEAR.
THE SENATE TOOK A VOTE AND
ATTEMPTED TO MAKE JUNETEENTH A
NATIONAL HOLIDAY.
IT FAILED BY ONE VOTE.
SO 99 VOTES IN FAVOR, ONE
AGAINST.
SO CERTAINLY THE ESPN THAT WE
ALL WRNS,ITNESSED, THE DEATH OF
GEORGE FLOYD, A TEXAS NATIVE,
WHO, I THINK, FOR MANY PEOPLE
APPARENTLY AWAKENED THEM TO
REALITY AND FUNCTIONS IN THE
UNITED STATES, CERTAINLY OPENED
THE DOOR TO FURTHER DISCUSSION
ABOUT THIS HOLIDAY BEING
RECOGNIZED NATIONALLY.
THAT BEING SAID, I THINK IT IS
REALLY IMPORTANT FOR PEOPLE TO
RECOGNIZE A LOT OF THINGS HERE.
ONE, THAT JUNETEENTH HAS BEEN
CELEBRATED IN TEXAS AND BY
PEOPLE WITH SOME SORT OF
CONNECTION TO TEXAS, PEOPLE WHO
CAME OUT OF TEXAS, LOUISIANA,
THROUGH THE GREAT MIGRATION TO
PLACES LIKE CALIFORNIA WHERE
"BLACK-ISH" IS SET, AND
THROUGHOUT THE MIDWEST AND THE
NORTHEAST.
SINCE AT LEAST 1930s, 1940s, IN
LOS ANGELES THERE HAVE BEEN
CELEBRATIONS SINCE THE MID-40s
AT LEAST, PUBLIC CELEBRATIONS.
SO I DONT KNOW THAT THERE IS A
COMPLETE LACK OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT
JUNETEENTH, BUT THERE CERTAINLY
IS A BROADER RECOGNITION OF
JUNETEENTH.
>> ONE OF THE OTHER THINGS
THATS BEING RECOGNIZED IS JUST
HOW MANY PEOPLE FOUGHT FOR SO
LONG TO MAKE JUNETEENTH A
HOLIDAY, INCLUDING MS. OPAL LEE,
THE GRANDMOTHER OF JUNETEENTH.
SHE WAS AT THE CEREMONY AT THE
WHITE HOUSE ON THURSDAY.
WATCH. >> WE WANT PEOPLE ALL OVER TO
>> WE WANT PEOPLE ALL OVER TO UNDERSTAND THAT WHAT WE DO
UNDERSTAND THAT WHAT WE DO
TOGETHER IS SO MUCH MORE
RELEVANT THAN OUR PULLING APART.
IF PEOPLE KNEW WHAT HAPPENED, IF
PEOPLE UNDERSTOOD WHAT HAPPENED
AND COULD RECTIFY THAT KIND OF
THING AND MAKE PEOPLE UNDERSTAND
YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS HISTORY SO
WE DONT REPEAT IT -- AND HEAVEN
KNOWS SEEMS LIKE WERE REPEATING
SOME OF IT.
>> THAT LAST PART OF WHAT SHE
SAID IN TERMS OF KNOWING THE
HISTORY SO WE DONT REPEAT IT,
IT FEELS LIKE THE COUNTRYS IN A
SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT PLACE NOW,
NOT JUST BECAUSE OF WHAT
HAPPENED WITH GEORGE FLOYD, BUT
THE INFLUENCE OF POP CULTURE,
RAISING AWARENESS OF JUNETEENTH,
SHOWS LIKE "WATCHMEN" RAISING
AWARENESS ABOUT THE BLACK WALL
STREET, WHERE THE NATION FEELS
LIKE, YEAH, WE CANT IGNORE THIS
ANYMORE.
BUT THERES THIS PIECE WHERE IT
GOES FROM HERE POLITICALLY.
YOU CANT ACKNOWLEDGE THE PAST
IMPLICATIONS OF JUNETEENTH IF
YOU DONT TALK ABOUT THE FUTURE.
>> THERE ARE TWO THINGS HERE TO
ACKNOWLEDGE.
ONE IS THE GAP BETWEEN OUR
WILLINGNESS TO -- AND WE ARE
STRUGGLING AT THIS VERY MOMENT
TO EVEN TALK ABOUT THE PAST IN
AN ACCURATE AND FULL AND
COMPLETE WAY.
BUT OUR WILLINGNESS TO THEN
APPLY THOSE SAME LESSONS OR THAT
INFORMATION TO THE PRESENT SEEMS
TO BE WHERE WE ARE TRULY LACKING
AS A COUNTRY.
SO FIRST AND FOREMOST, RIGHT,
FOR ANYONE WHO IS DUBIOUS ABOUT
WHY CONGRESS WOULD TAKE THIS
ACTION THIS YEAR, THERE ARE
SIMILAR QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED
ABOUT EVERY INSTITUTION IN
AMERICA.
WHERE IS YOUR SUBSTANTIVE ACTION
TOWARDS RACIAL EQUITY AND
PROGRESS?
THERE IS NOT AN AREA OF AMERICAN
LIFE WHERE THERE ARENT
LEGITIMATE QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED
AND ANSWER.
THAT BEING SAID, THERE ARE
ALSO -- TO RETURN TO WHAT MS.
OPAL LEE SAID, THERES SOMETHING
CRITICAL ALSO TO UNDERSTAND.
MARK TWAIN SAID HISTORY DOES NOT
REPEAT ITSELF, BUT IT DOES RHYME
OR OFTEN RHYMES.
TRUTHFULLY, ONE OF THE REASONS
THAT THE ENSLAVED IN TEXAS WERE
KEPT IN BONDAGE FOR TWO AND A
HALF YEARS BEYOND THE POINT THAT
ANY OTHER ENSLAVED INDIVIDUALS
IN WHAT WAS THEN THE UNITED
STATES IS NOT SIMPLY THAT TEXAS
WAS FAR, FAR AWAY AND
INFORMATION HARD TO COME BY,
THAT MOST ENSLAVED PEOPLE WERE,
IN FACT, UNABLE TO SKPRAED WRITE
WRITE BY ORDER OF LAW.
THERE WERE ALSO A GROUP OF
PEOPLE, CONFEDERATES, WHO NOT
ONLY RECOGNIZED THE UNITED
STATES AND CONSIDERED THEMSELVES
A BREAKAWAY NATION BUT DO NOT
RECOGNIZE THAT THE WAR WAS OVER
AND THE WAR WAS LOST AND SIGNED
ONTO AN ALTERNATIVE REALITY AND
THEN USED BRUTE FORCE TO MAKE
THAT THE REALITY FOR THOSE WHO
WOULD DISAGREE WITH THEM.
WE VERY MUCH HAVE A SIMILAR
SITUATION TODAY.
>> YEAH.
IM GLAD YOU PUT IT THAT WAY.
I DIDNT WANT TO PUT TOO FINE A
POINT ON IT, BUT THATS PART OF
THE ISSUE.
A LOT OF PEOPLE ASSUME THAT
HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF, BUT
THIS DARN SURE RHYMES.
IF ANYTHING COMES OUT OF
JUNETEENTH, ILL BE INTERESTED
TO SEE HOW THAT INFLUENCES THE
FIGHTS OVER THE GEORGE FLOYD
JUSTICE IN POLICING ACT, THE
JOHN LEWIS VOTING RIGHTS ACT,
ALL THESE PIECES OF LEGISLATION
THAT FIT INTO THIS LEGACY.
I DONT KNOW IF YOU ARE MORE
OPTIMISTIC OR POSSESS
MISCELLANEOUS
PESSIMISTIC OR WAIT AND SEE.
>> THE ENTIRETY OF AMERICAN
HISTORY IT DOES NOT BODE WELL
FOR OUR WILLINGNESS TO TAKE
LARGE LEAPS IN THE DIRECTION OF
LIBERTY.
BUT MORE STOP AND START,
INCONSISTENT ACTION THAT
HOPEFULLY PUSHES TOWARDS EQUITY.