Page 16 - Making Juneteenth News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

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

Majority of you that i'm looking at from this podium. over the course of decades, she's made it her mission to see that this day came. it was 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 that we all stand and give her a warm welcome to the white house. [ applause ] as they still say in the senate and i said for 36 years, i was walking down i regret that my

Built by enslaved people. we are footsteps away from where president abraham lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation, and we are here to witness president joe biden establish juneteenth as a national holiday. we have come far and we have far to go but today is a day of celebration. it is not only a day of pride, it is also a day for us to reaffirm and rededicate ourselves to action. and with that, i say happy juneteenth, everybody. with that, i introduce the president of the united states, joe biden! [ applause ]

Presence of opal lee. as my mother would say, god love her. [applause] have the honor of meeting her a year ago. she told me she loved me. i believed it. i wanted to believe it. opal, you're incredible. a daughter of texas. grandmother of the movement to make juneteenth a federal holiday. mrs. opal, you won't believe it, she's 49 years old. [laughter] our 94 years old. you are an incredible woman, miss opal. you are. as a child growing up in texas, she and her family would celebrate juneteenth. juneteenth, 1939 when she was 12 years old, a white mob torched her family home.

>> thank you. thank you, thank you, thank you. thank you, madame vice president. 156 years ago. 156 years. june 19th, 1865. john, thanks for being here. major general of the union army arivered in galveston, texas, to enforce the emancipation proclamation and free the last ebb slaved americans in texas from bondage. i'll repeat some of what was said. came to be a day that reflects what the psalm tells us. weeping may endure for a day but joy comes in the morning. juneteenth marks both a long, hard night of slavery and