NYC Mayor Declares Juneteenth a Paid City Holiday

New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Monday announced that Juneteenth will now be recognized as a city-wide paid holiday.

“As the second black mayor of New York City, I know that I stand on the shoulders of countless heroes and sheroes who put their lives on the line to secure a more perfect union. Now is the time for me to do a small part and recognize one of our nation’s greatest wrongs,” he said in a statement.

“It’s time for our city to finally do what’s right and officially designate Juneteenth as a city holiday,” Adams wrote in a tweet of the statement. “This decision is long overdue, which is why it will immediately take effect this year.”

Indeed, New York City will see its first paid Junteenth on June 19, 2022.

As reported by Fox News, the Biden administration designated Juneteenth as a federal holiday in 2021, marking the anniversary of federal troops announcing the freeing of all enslaved people in Galveston, Texas back in 1865.