Sullivan County commissioner calls Juneteenth a ‘woke holiday’
Published by WJHL, Reporter Slater Teague, May 18, 2023
BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — The Sullivan County Commission voted to officially recognize Juneteenth, but not before one commissioner called it a “woke holiday.”
Commissioners voted 17–4 Thursday night to recognize the General Assembly’s designation of Juneteenth as an official holiday and to make it a paid holiday for county employees.
Juneteenth is the commemoration of the day in June 1865 when slaves in Texas learned of their freedom almost three
years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. It is observed on June 19.
Before county commissioners voted, Commissioner Joe Carr explained why he was going to vote against it.
