‘Great nations don´t ignore their most painful moments,¨ Mr. Biden said during a signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House, surrounded by Vice President Kamala Harris, lawmakers, and guests including Opal Lee, a Texas activists who campaigned to make Juneteenth a national holiday.

President Biden acknowledged that it is not enough to commemorate the historic moment, because to honor its true meaning it´s quite necessary to fulfill the promise of equality and mentioned how his investment plan and a police reform could contribute to such an objective.

Juneteenth—also known as Emancipation Day, Black Independence Day and Jubilee Day—marks the 1865 date when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived with federal troops in Galveston, Texas, and issued an order freeing the nation’s last slaves. This came more than two months after the end of the Civil War and about 2½ years after President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in the Confederacy.

Analysts pointed out that racial inequality and police violence against Black people persist in the United States.

pgh/Pll/msm / avr