Fiscal Note
No appropriation is required.
Title
Recognizing the second annual Civic Season from June 12 to July 4, 2022, inclusive of Juneteenth, Independence Day, and forthcoming Fall Civic Holidays.
Body
WHEREAS, June 12th will be a nationwide celebration of the launch of Civic Season and the recognition of the 1967 United States Supreme Court decision in Loving vs. Virginia that ended anti-miscegenation laws in the remaining sixteen U.S. states; and
WHEREAS, the Emancipation Proclamation provided the legal framework for liberation from enslavement in Confederate States in 1863, it did not do so for States under Union control. In Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, two months after the end of the Civil War, Union soldiers announced the end of the Civil War and the freedom of the enslaved; and
WHEREAS, the full emancipation those enslaved in Delaware and Kentucky would not occur until December 18, 1865, with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment; and
WHEREAS, July 4th commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In 1776, this nascent country simultaneously freed itself from British colonialism and yet continued to enslave millions of Black Americans; and
WHEREAS, Juneteenth and the words of Frederick Douglas’ “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July,” “I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages” rightfully remind us whose liberation counted and whose did not; and
WHEREAS, U.S. history all too often excludes the voices and experiences of its most marginalized people. Culturally relevant teaching and learning is critical at this point in time where we continue the fight for justice, liberty, and equality.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the City of Madison will celebrate the second Civic Season from June 12 to July 4 and use this space to recognize the systemic racism that prevented BIPOC communities from full enfranchisement and intentionally work on alleviating the barriers that still exist in order build more equitable and inclusive participation in democracy.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, Civic Season from June 12 to July 4 of 2022 and beyond is only a step. Progress occurs when we all work on building a healthy democracy where everyone’s voices and votes are heard, when everyone is able to see themselves reflected in this republic.