June 19, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 103 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Page S3826]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Juneteenth

  Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about Juneteenth 
and the VA MISSION Act.
  The VA MISSION Act is a remarkable transition that is happening right 
now in VA centers across the country, but I need to pause for just a 
moment in recognition of today's date.
  Today, as many people here in the Senate know--and if they don't 
know, they should know--today is June 19. In the South today, we 
recognize it as Juneteenth.
  The Emancipation Proclamation was signed by Abraham Lincoln on 
January 1, 1863, but it took 2 years for that information about the 
emancipation of the slaves to reach multiple areas of the South. The 
date that was officially recognized was June 19, and that is the day we 
recognize each year--June 19--as Emancipation Day. In Oklahoma, in my 
great State, it actually didn't reach us until June 14, 1866--almost a 
year after it reached Texas. That is how long communication took at the 
time, to get the information.
  It is a remarkable thing to think about. One hundred and fifty-four 
years after emancipation reached the Southern States and the word of 
that reached them and after the end of the Civil War, we still as a 
nation pause on June 19 every year to remember how horrible it was to 
treat humanity as property. May we not forget where we were so we never 
get close to that again.