federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the nation.
The House voted 415-14 Wednesday to make Juneteenth, or June 19th, the 12th federal holiday. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden's desk, and he is expected to sign it into law.
It's the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created in 1983.
The Senate unanimously passed a resolution on Tuesday establishing June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day, a US holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.
The measure needs to pass the House and be signed by President Joe Biden to become law.
Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey, Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee are among the members of Congress who led the effort to to make Juneteenth the 12th federal holiday.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on Wednesday is set to unveil a statue of George Floyd that officials say will be displayed outside City Hall for at least a year.
“The artwork honors the life of George Floyd, an African-American man who was brutally murdered by a white Minneapolis police officer,” the mayor’s office said in a statement. “Mr. Floyd’s death elevated the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement which has resulted in an international response, including protests, police reform measures, and the removal of Confederate statues from public parks and racist names from organizations.”
Baraka will join actor, director, and filmmaker Leon Pickney, who commissioned the 700-pound statue and the sculptor, Stanley Watts, among other officials at the event, according to the mayor’s office. The event is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. outside City Hall on Board Street and will be streamed via the city’s Facebook page.
The statue was donated to the city this week as part of an effort to develop a “world class public art program,” in Newark, the announcement said.
The New York State Assembly Wednesday voted to pass a slavery reparation bill.
The bill was spearheaded by Assemblyman Charles Barron and passed with 107 lawmakers in favor.
If it passes, the six groups will form an 11-person committee comprised of lawmakers and people in the community to decide how those reparations will be paid.
The bill moves to the Senate next, and organizations are calling for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to sign it by the end of the year.
The Senate voted Monday evening to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s pick to fill a vacancy on a powerful DC-based appellate court and one of the President’s most closely watched judicial nominees.
The vote was 53-44. Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted with Democrats in favor of confirmation.
The vote elevates Jackson from the US District Court for the District of Columbia to the influential US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, which is seen as a breeding ground for Supreme Court justices.
She is widely viewed as a potential Supreme Court pick if there were to be a vacancy on the high court during Biden’s time in office. Biden pledged during the campaign to name the first Black woman to the Supreme Court should a vacancy arise. Administration officials have stood by that pledge since Biden entered the White House, and Jackson has repeatedly come up as a leading candidate.
