President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. recently
signed legislation establishing June 19th as “Juneteenth,”
hereafter to be a U.S. federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery. Biden
signed the bipartisan Congressional bill into law following its successful passage
through Congress.
One
wonders, however, if the day will henceforth have to be referred to as simply “day
off,” given the actions of a New Jersey school district’s board of education. Randolph
Township, a city an hour west of the Big Apple, had previously renamed Columbus
Day “Indigenous Peoples Day,” an action that didn’t go over well with all its
residents. Ergo, in an effort to avoid offending anyone at all, the Randolph
Board of Education recently decided to purge school calendars of all
holiday names, period.
That’s
right, Christmas will be listed as “day off.” As will Thanksgiving, Easter, Rosh
Hashanah, New Year’s Day, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor
Day, etc. Martin Luther King Day, too, right?
Board
member Dorene Roche noted, "If
we don't have anything on the calendar,” we won't have to have anyone with “hurt
feelings or anything like that.” Sorry, Ms. Roche, you can’t get off that easy.
Think about this, the board members actually voted to cancel all holiday names
to avoid offending anyone in the world by recognizing special days that
reference a person, holiday, ethnic group, place,
thing, idea or entity. How offensive is that?
Maybe
we should just banish language altogether. And concepts, ideas…thought.
And
the board’s vote was unanimous. Which led some attending the board
meeting to cry out in disbelief and anger. One man shouted, "What did you
just do? What just happened?"
It’s
okay everyone. Enjoy your day off. Just don’t ask why you have it.
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