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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- When the Legislature convenes on the third Monday in January -- Martin Luther King Jr. Day -- Rep. Neil Hansen wants to send a message that Utah respects its black population, however small it may be.
He wants to make Juneteenth Day an official state holiday.
"I think it would be fitting to have this bill ready to go on that day," said Hansen, D-Ogden.
Juneteenth recognizes the day Texas slaves were told they were freed by the President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
If Hansen's bill passes, it will do so without a single black lawmaker there to support it. Utah's lone black legislator, Rep. Duane Bordeaux, D-Salt Lake City, retired earlier this year.
"It's been on my mind a couple years. Rep. Bordeaux worked together on it," Hansen said. "I think it's time for our state."
Less than 1 percent of Utah's 2.4 million population is black and, in 2001, the state became the last to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a state holiday.
The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in rebelling states beginning Jan. 1, 1863. It did not affect slaves in Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware and parts of Virginia and Louisiana that were under federal control at the time. But slaves in Galveston, Texas, didn't know they were freed until June 19, 1865, about two months after the Civil War ended. That day has become known as Juneteenth Day.
In the past decade there has been a growing movement to recognize Juneteenth as a national holiday, with 19 states recognizing the day, including Texas, where it's a paid state holiday.
"Juneteenth is America's second Independence Day. On the Fourth of July, Americans of African descent were slaves," said Ronald Myers, chairman of the National Juneteenth Holiday Campaign, by telephone from the Memphis, Tenn. airport.
"We're talking about an American celebration of freedom. The Fourth of July and the 19th of June complete the cycle of Independence Day celebrations in America. One is not complete without the other."
Myers said when slaves in Texas were told of their freedom they danced with joy. Although slavery was not outlawed nationwide until the passage of the 13th Amendment in December 1865, Juneteenth allows the country to continue the celebration that began in Texas, Myers said.
"We honor our ancestors by joining them in celebration," he said.
Hansen said adopting Juneteenth Day as a state holiday would likely be easier than it was making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a state holiday.
Hansen said he would like the observance to occur on the third Saturday in June so no businesses or offices would have to close.
"It's mainly just a day to be recognized," he said.
Myers said his group is not asking states or the federal government to make Juneteenth a paid holiday, but an observance similar to Flag Day, June 14.
"It gives the country an opportunity to most constructively deal with the legacy of slavery and the healing we need from that legacy," he said.
Hansen wants his bill reviewed by legislative committees this fall so it can be voted on the first day of the session, Jan. 15, which is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The state Constitution requires the Legislature convene on the third Monday of January each year despite the pleas of several legislators and many civil rights activists.
Of the 40 states whose legislatures will have convened by the third Monday, Utah is one of nine that doesn't take the day off.
"It would be nice so that especially as a Legislature that we can honor that day," Hansen said. "I truly think we need to look at maybe changing the Constitution to starting a day later for that."
Juneteenth Day www.juneteenth.us
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
