Nassau Democratic legislators are pushing their Republican colleagues to vote on a bill that would make Juneteenth an official holiday in the county.
“Nearly four years after Juneteenth became a federal holiday, Nassau County will treat it as just another Thursday,” said Democratic Legislator Olena Nicks, who introduced the bill. “It will be business as usual, the doors will be open. Employees will be expected to come to work, and Juneteenth will not actually be observed in Nassau County. If we simply say that we acknowledge Juneteenth but do not actually observe it, that is performative, and it is a slap in the face to those who recognize this holiday.”
Juneteenth, which former President Joe Biden made a federal holiday in 2021, marks the day the last enslaved people in the United States were freed in Texas in 1865.
Nassau is one of the only counties in the state that doesn’t recognize the holiday by closing county buildings and providing government employees with the day off or time and a half pay for working.
The bill, introduced each year by Democratic legislators since 2021, asks that Juneteenth begin to be recognized as an official holiday starting in the next calendar year. Each year, county Republicans have prevented the bill from being taken up for a vote, which they can do since they hold the majority in the legislative chamber.
The bill’s sponsors and co-sponsors emphasized that their push for Juneteenth to be recognized as an official holiday is more than just a desire for a day off.
“What we’re doing isn’t about a day off, it’s about showing up for what matters. Right now, Nassau County isn’t showing up at all, and quite frankly, it is terribly embarrassing and infuriating,” said Nassau County Legislator Arnold Drucker. “Juneteenth is about freedom delayed. But in Nassau County, even the recognition of that freedom keeps getting delayed. It cannot be delayed any longer.”
For Nicks, the bill is personal.
“I come directly from a lineage of enslaved people,” Nicks said. “This day is very important.”
“Never in my ancestor’s wildest dreams did they think that I would be a legislator, that we could be at this point,” Nicks continued. “But we are. We’ve moved forward. There’s no reason that the county should be holding this day back. There are so many other individuals within the communities that I represent who also have that lineage, and they feel forgotten and left out.”
Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman said that he would support Juneteenth as a county holiday only if it were switched out with one of the holidays the county currently celebrates.
“The evil of slavery is something we should never forget, and emancipation started a journey for racial equity that we are still traveling,” Blakeman said in a statement. “The designation of holidays is part of collective bargaining, and I have maintained that if the union wants to swap out another holiday for Juneteenth, I would be amenable to that.”
Blakeman’s office did not respond when asked whether he would support this bill specifically, which asks that Juneteenth be added as an additional holiday to the 2026 calendar and not be swapped out with an existing one.
“You can’t claim to honor Liberty while refusing to honor Juneteenth. They’ll turn their back on Juneteenth tomorrow, but then wrap themselves in the American flag a few weeks later on July 4,” Nassau County Legislator Seth Koslow said. “This is the fourth chance for the Republican majority to pass this bill and recognize Juneteenth. This county belongs to all of us, Black, white, Hispanic, Asian, young, old. We should represent everybody here in the county.”
Nicks said the earliest the bill could be picked up for a vote would be Mon., June 23.
