02/06/2001 08:06 AM House STA
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS STANDING COMMITTEE
February 6, 2001
8:06 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative John Coghill, Chair
Representative Jeannette James
Representative Hugh Fate
Representative Gary Stevens
Representative Peggy Wilson
Representative Harry Crawford
Representative Joe Hayes
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
HOUSE BILL NO. 100
"An Act establishing the third Saturday of each June as
Juneteenth Day."
- MOVED HB 100 OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS ACTION
BILL: HB 100
SHORT TITLE:JUNETEENTH DAY
SPONSOR(S): REPRESENTATIVE(S)MCGUIRE
Jrn-Date Jrn-Page Action
01/31/01 0213 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME -
REFERRALS
01/31/01 0213 (H) STA
01/31/01 0213 (H) REFERRED TO STATE AFFAIRS
02/06/01 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 102
WITNESS REGISTER
REPRESENTATIVE LESIL McGUIRE
Alaska State Legislature
Capitol Building, Room 418
Juneau, Alaska 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as sponsor of HB 100.
JAMES N. "DINO" ALLEN
2125 Kimberly Lynn Circle
Anchorage, Alaska 99515
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 100.
Celeste Graham Hodge, President
Anchorage Branch, NAACP
P.O. Box 100405,
Anchorage, Alaska 99510
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified that Anchorage NAACP supports HB
100.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 01-10, SIDE A
Number 0001
CHAIRMAN JOHN COGHILL called the House State Affairs Standing
Committee meeting to order at 8:06 a.m. He noted that all
committee members were present.
HB 100-JUNETEENTH DAY
Number 0085
CHAIR COGHILL announced the committee would hear testimony on
HOUSE BILL NO. 100, "An Act establishing the third Saturday of
each June as Juneteenth Day."
Number 0116
REPRESENTATIVE LESIL McGUIRE, Alaska State Legislature,
testified as sponsor of HB 100. Representative McGuire
introduced Juneteenth as "the oldest known celebration of the
ending of slavery." Freedom actually came through the
Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, but slaves in Galveston,
Texas, did not get word of it until June 19, 1865, she
explained; adding, "Juneteenth gets its name from that date,
June nineteenth."
REPRESENTATIVE McGUIRE noted that Juneteenth is a state holiday
in Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, and Delaware, and has been
celebrated in Anchorage for the past eight years. She said it
is an unpaid holiday celebrated on the third Saturday of June.
Congress passed a Republican-sponsored resolution in 1997
recognizing the holiday, she continued, but [then-President]
Clinton did not issue a proclamation to make it official.
President Bush is expected to make recognition official this
year, and has been asked to do so on June 19, she said. She
asked all members to support HB 100.
Number 0298
JAMES N. "DINO" ALLEN, of Anchorage, testified by
teleconference. He said he has been promoting the Juneteenth
celebration in Anchorage for the past eight years; however, the
celebration there has been going on for more than 20 years,
sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) and others. He said it is a great
celebration in Anchorage and elsewhere. In Ontario, California,
last year, there was a Juneteenth conference where the agenda
"was just to get everybody to celebrate it in every state,
regardless of a holiday," he said. "Now they want to take it to
a different level and get it recognized ... as an official day
of celebration, an official day to recognize freedom." Freedom
is what America has been built on, he pointed out; but at the
time of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, African-
Americans' ancestors were not free. "We think that [in]
recognizing [June 19] in 1865 when official freedom came about,
we might be able to begin the healing of the country [which was
once divided over slavery]," he concluded.
CHAIR COGHILL thanked Mr. Allen for his interest and for the
work he has done on the organizational effort.
REPRESENTATIVE McGUIRE said she thinks it is "a great statement
we are making as a state," joining a nationwide movement to
bring this to the forefront, "to educate people about the end of
slavery and the suffering that has been endured on the part of
African-Americans in our country."
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES said this causes her to ponder where we are
today in relation to 1865, and [about] the claims of racism in
our country. She noted that in this country, we have, "more
freedom than anyone does in any other country in the world" and
that "everyone has the same opportunity and it's an individual
endeavor for us to get there." She said she is proud that
Alaska has such a "diverse potpourri of all different races and
cultures," and thinks we should celebrate that all Alaskans are
free and equal. She said she thinks HB 100 is a step in the
right direction, pointing out that there is still some slavery
today, that there are white slaves, and that slavery is a
"horrible thing" and is wrong, no matter who it is [that is
enslaved].
CHAIR COGHILL added that what they are doing in Anchorage [on
Juneteenth] is truly celebrating freedom. He noted that this is
"one of the few places in the world where we can say we've
overcome some of our bad things in our society, and as long as
that's the emphasis of it [Juneteenth], I have no problem. If
it becomes an issue that divides us rather than unifies us, then
I think that it would be a step in the wrong direction, and
that's something we need to continually guard against." But
celebrating freedom is a wonderful thing, he said.
MR. ALLEN said he didn't know where any racial implications came
from, and that was never the proponents' intention. "We're
truly for freedom, and on the slavery issue, it has nothing to
do with racism," he emphasized.
CHAIR COGHILL said he thinks what the committee is saying is
that "we just need to guard against [racism] becoming the
issue."
MR. ALLEN said he understood.
Number 0906
REPRESENTATIVE FATE expressed concern that June 19 is so close
to July 4. He said he completely agrees with the concept of
Juneteenth, but he said there seems to be some erosion of the
meaning of July 4, and he wondered if the date could be backed
up a week or something like that.
REPRESENTATIVE McGUIRE explained that June 19 comes from the
official proclamation from Galveston, Texas, on that date, "so
it is set in stone." She echoed what Mr. Allen had said about
this being an opportunity for all races to come together to
celebrate the end of "a really terrible time in our history."
She said she thinks, "It's OK for us to look back as a nation
and recognize where we have erred and where we have made
mistakes, and celebrate the fact that we've moved beyond that."
She said it wouldn't be any more appropriate to change the date
of June 19 than it would be to change the date of July 4.
MR. ALLEN pointed out that the celebration is on the third
Saturday, regardless of whether that actually falls on June 19.
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON called the committee's attention to the
"History of Juneteenth," included in their packets. "Once you
read this, everything makes more sense," she said. She never
heard of this when she lived in North Carolina, and that's a
shame, she said, because she thinks there are a lot of places in
our nation -- although we may not notice it so much here in
Alaska -- but in other parts of the United States, "there are
still feelings on both sides," she said. She said she thinks
[the Juneteenth celebration] is wonderful and that "we need to
join with them and help them celebrate."
REPRESENTATIVE McGUIRE emphasized that although the date was
actually June 19, 1865, it is celebrated on the third Saturday
in June. Part of that, she explained, is that it is an unpaid
holiday, and Saturday is a day when most people are not working
and have a chance to ... (indisc.-coughing).
Number 1160
CHAIR COGHILL observed that one of the reasons this bill moved
so easily is that it is an unpaid holiday. He said he thinks
there is a movement toward a national holiday, and that [HB 100]
will probably reinforce that effort.
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES clarified that she had not intended to
suggest, "that this was a racial issue at all." "It is in my
heart, a celebration ... that we will not accept slavery in this
nation," she avowed. Historically, slavery was an atrocious
thing for African-Americans, but there still are people in
bondage, "and if we can draw attention to the slavery issue, I
think we make it a bigger issue than just the freedom of the
African-Americans," she said. "Everyone, regardless of your
color or your creed or whatever, every human is intended to have
the same freedom as every other one, and there should be no
slavery, no bondage at all in this nation."
REPRESENTATIVE STEVENS agreed with Representative James that "we
have a lot to be proud of in this country, where we are today,
but we also have a lot to feel bad about,...[including] the
treatment of Negro slaves as well as the treatment of Alaska
Natives and other Native Americans." We have had a tradition of
mistreatment of people because of their races," he said. In the
short time he has been in Alaska, since 1970, he has seen
mistreatment of Native people, and it wasn't that long ago that
the Native people of Alaska received the right to vote, he
recalled. "So it's not that far from where we are right now,"
he said. "I think all this says, really basically, is that we
need to be constantly vigilant and never allow this to happen
again, and constantly work toward racial equality. This is very
positive and very good, and I know we'll support it," he
concluded.
Number 1340
CELESTE GRAHAM HODGE, President, Anchorage Branch, NAACP,
testified by teleconference. She said HB 100 is definitely
something that should be supported. Slavery and lynchings are
not that far in the past, she said. But now, it is time to move
in a positive direction, she stated, and celebrating Juneteenth
is something that the NAACP definitely supports.
Number 1416
REPRESENTATIVE HAYES moved to report HB 100 out of committee
with individual recommendations and the accompanying zero fiscal
note. There being no objection; House Bill 100 was reported out
of the House State Affairs Standing Committee.
ADJOURNMENT
Number 1443
There being no further business before the committee, the House
State Affairs Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 8:25
a.m.
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