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In Tennessee, Juneteenth gets a proclamation, but not a state holiday

Local 24 News anchor Richard Ransom looks at the proclamation signed Friday by Gov. Bill Lee.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a proclamation Friday recognizing Juneteenth.

It should be a state holiday, but a proclamation will have to do.

Why wouldn't we all want to celebrate a day which shows that despite all its faults, this country does make progress, even if it takes way too long?

And boy, did it take a long time after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862.

Slaves in Galveston, Texas, waited the longest - two and a half years. On June 19th, 1865, they were finally told they were free.

So good for the governor for signing his own proclamation. But it's hard to ignore that just a week ago, Republican state lawmakers voted to keep in place a day commemorating Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest. And a bust of him is still displayed prominently in the state capitol.

Maybe someday, if anything, Juneteenth shows us doing what's right can take way too long.

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