Page 15 - Making Juneteenth News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Her. i had the honor of meeting her more than a year ago. she told me she loved me and i believed it. i wanted to believe it. miss opal, you are incredible. a daughter of texas. grandmother of the movement to make june teenth a federal holiday. miss opal, it is -- you won't believe it. she is 49 years old. or 94. you are incredible woman, miss opal. you are. as a child growing up in texas, she and her family would celebrate juneteenth. and juneteenth, 1939, when she was 12 years old the white mob torched her family home. but such hate never stopped her anymore than it stopped the vast

Grandchildren aren't here because this is a really, really, really important moment in our history. by making juneteenth a federal holiday, all americans can feel the power of this day and learn from our history and celebrate progress and grapple with the distance we've come but the distance we have to travel. i said a few weeks ago marking 100th anniversary of the tulsa race massacre, great nations don't ignore their most painful moments. great nations don't ignore their most painful moments. they don't ignore those moments in the past. they embrace them. great nations don't walk away. we com...

Me for point of personal privilege. as walking down, i regret my grandchildren are not here. this is a really, really important moment in our history. by making juneteenth a federal holiday, all americans can feel the power of this day and learn from our history and celebrate progress and grapple with the distance we have come, but the distance we have to travel. and i said a few weeks ago, marking the 100th anniversary of the tulsa race massacre, great nations don't ignore their most painful moments. great nations don't ignore their most painful moments. they don't ignore those moments in the...

But such hate never stopped her anymore than stopped the vast majority of you i'm looking at from this podium. over the course of decades, she's made it her mission to see that this day came. almost a singular mission. she's walked for miles and miles, literally and figuratively to bring attention to juneteenth. to make this day possible. i ask once again, we all stand and give her a warm welcome. [applause] still say in the senate and i said for 36 years, if you excuse

That voted against juneteenth becoming a federal holiday, and you think back to the early '80s, and those that voted against your father's birthday from becoming a federal holiday, what is your message to these members, what they should know about this vote? >> well, i guess i will mix my father's world in this moment, because those in congress and in the senate have got to find a way to overcome the divide in themselves, you know. my father said one of the great tragedies of life is that people seldom bridge the gap between profession and practice, and between doing and saying instead of pers...