I haven't stood in line since mail in voting was passed. I get an email saying my ballot was mailed and one to confirm it was accepted. Easiest thing ever.
And that the final emancipation proclamation was issued on January 1st, which is already a federal holiday, followed by another federal holiday two weeks later.
Down here in GA we have early voting, which is 2 weeks where you can stop in to any voting office in your county and vote. Fulton County (and maybe others) also has an app that will show you the wait time at all voting locations. So I can drive 5 more minutes to the second closest location and not have to wait.
Juneteenth is an amazing holiday and it should be better known. It represents the core of why the US is great.
Well said. Additionally it's crazy how much of our history isn't known to many. I didnt know about Tulsa massacre until college.
I recently received a text that my mail-in primary ballot was received. The only problem is that I didn’t vote in the primary. No joke.
I never heard of that until recently. After HS and College.
Beautiful post. Though, I will say, and to continue the metaphor, the nation had its opportunity for its Confirmation via Reconstruction, and we let the opportunity slip through our fingers. While the Union’s victory was an unambiguous triumph, the nation does continue to feel the negative effects of the retrenchment that occurred in the south when Reconstruction ended unfinished.
I get emails almost daily for me to click on a link because I have a UPS or a postal service delivery and my "address" is incorrect.
I didn't really learn about it until I watched "The Watchmen" on HBO. I had heard of it, but didn't really know anything about it until The Watchmen piqued my interest in learning about it. Horrible stain on our history. Same goes for the Osage Indian tribe. Didn't know anything about that until I read "Killers of the Flower Moon".
I would agree regarding juneteenth but would also say that we do not need MLK day as a national holiday. We used to get Washington and Lincoln's birthdays off growing up but now it is just a single president's day for all. I can't say that MLK had any greater influence than those presidents.
No doubt. Take a country like Sweden. No mail in voting (other than absentees)…but they make voting much more easier for citizens. No reason why we can’t do something similar. I’m with you.
Disagree about MLK. The thing about holidays is we should as Americans be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. Our history is filled with many significant Americans that should be celebrated. I know MLK day has morphed into a day of service for many people so I would think we should still acknowledge and celebrate his contributions to the country.
Yeah. I just looked that up. It's rare to learn something new on a message board so thanks for sharing.
Awful. I've never heard about this. Just another example of the history being conveniently shaped to avoid facing some of the low points of our past.
Juneteenth is about Emancipation, which secured the right to be free from chattel slavery.
The Peach Bowl a few years ago was a horrible travel experience for many canceled flights and poor weather...but an absolute highlight was the historical Civil rights areas in Atlanta including the Ebenezer Baptist church and MLKs birth home.
I've thought about that. At some point, if we are lucky, we are going to have too many great Americans to honor with individual holidays. We might want to entirely get away from individual person holidays. I remember Pitt used to call President's Day Great American Day. I could be on board with that.
Sure, African Americans have taken the majority of the abuse, but there's been lots of racism and hate against many other ethnicities in US history.
Japanese were interned during WWII. They seem to have mentally and physically recovered. Chinese were enslaved to build railroads. They seem to do okay. The Europeans that came over to work in the mines and mills, were essentially indentured servants in some ways. Life sucked back then. Sorry. We are lucky now. Those were far from the good old days. For most people who were of the elite class. Look what happened to the poor people of Johnstown because the Frick's, Mellon's, Kaufmann's had their precious club. While there still exists that divide......we all have a chance now to live a good life, better than most, if we just adhere to the program.
I mean…putting aside the model minority aspects to this, the Chinese immigration aspect isn’t really as relevant when you’re talking about multiple distinct waves. The folks who immigrated here in the 1850’s and were ground down on the railroads were part of an entirely different migration wave than the ones in the post-WW2 period. The ancestry, lineages, etc. between what the railroad workers went through and what Chinese American immigrants who came here in the second and third waves are just very different. And you can’t really fairly discuss the internment of Japanese-Americans without also pointing out that the US issued billions of dollars in reparations to surviving internees or their heirs in the late 1980’s.
I'm with you on the multiple days, up to a week of voting. Somewhat with you on ID. I believe it is a little more complicated than just mandating IDs, but we should strive to find a way to that end. I'm not with you on in person voting. There are many people who simply cannot wait on line for the amount of time it takes in some places. There are also folks who cannot easily leave their home whether it be for health reasons or lack of transportation. Then we have those who travel for their jobs, although making it a week certainly helps some of that. Their voices are important too. We shouldn't dismiss them.
Theres this thing called an "absentee" ballot...... Its been around for years.
Really????
