Could President Trump cancel Juneteenth as a federal holiday?
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Thursday is Juneteenth, a holiday that celebrates the day the last American slaves officially learned they were free on June 19, 1865 — more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued.
It has also become, as my colleague Kevinisha Walker put it last year, a day to celebrate Black history, culture and unity.
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Black communities have celebrated Juneteenth for more than 150 years. But it gained increased national prominence in the wake of the racial reckoning sparked by George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police in 2020.
That same year, many private companies announced that they would be giving employees the day off.
And in 2021, then-President Biden signed legislation into law to make Juneteenth, or June 19, a federal holiday. Biden’s signature made Juneteenth the country’s 12th federal holiday — and the first new one created since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established in 1983.
But there have been questions about whether President Trump — who has made attacking diversity, equity and inclusion efforts a cornerstone of his agenda — would try and rollback Juneteenth as a federal holiday.
Trump wouldn’t have the power to do that on his own, according to Loyola Marymount University Law School professor Jessica Levinson.
“Federal holidays are created and abolished by Congress,” Levinson explained, adding that presidents can make recommendations and sign and veto bills, but they cannot unilaterally create or cancel laws.
Celebrating Juneteenth in L.A.
There will be a number of Juneteenth events in Los Angeles Thursday and this weekend, including a Juneteenth Freedom Ride biking event in Leimert Park, an exhibit and panel discussion on reparations for descendants of enslaved African Americans at the California African American Museum and a celebration of Black women athletes at the Autry Museum, among others.
There will also be free admission to all national parks and forests.
Red-hued foods like watermelon, barbecue and red velvet cake are typically associated with Juneteenth.
There are, as my colleague Danielle Dorsey previously reported, differing theories on where this tradition stems from.
“Some believe that early celebrants simply worked with easily accessible and in-season ingredients that happened to be red… Others say that it honors the bloodshed and suffering of enslaved ancestors,” Dorsey wrote in 2023.
Black Lives Matter-LA co-founder Melina Abdullah said she and others from her organization would be “restoring ourselves in the midst of the chaos that’s swirling around in the world” at a Juneteenth celebration at BLM-LA’s Center for Black Power in Leimert Park.
The event will be free to the public, but only open to Black people, Abdullah said.
Which brings us to a broader question: Should white people celebrate Juneteenth?
Should white people celebrate Juneteenth?
There are varied opinions on the matter, with some — like activist and writer Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman — saying that “White people should celebrate this holiday in the way that centers Black Americans.”
Abdullah had a narrower view of the matter.
“This is not a day for white people to be crashing a Black party and eating our food,” Abdullah said.
If white people do want to celebrate or commemorate Juneteenth, they should do that by paying reparations, Abdullah said, suggesting they donate to Black organizations.
“We celebrate our freedom. It shouldn’t be a time when we have to make everyone else comfortable with that,” Abdullah continued. “This is a specific and particular African American holiday.”
Today’s top stories
The Lakers are selling majority ownership of the franchise to the Dodgers owner
- The deal is expected to occur with the Lakers’ valuation being about $10 billion — a record for a professional sports franchise.
- Mark Walter and TWG Global will now lead the city’s two premier professional sports teams.
- “Lakers had a great ride with Buss family,” Bill Plaschke wrote. “But Dodgers owner will give team new life.”
- Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was among those surprised by the development. He shared his thoughts on what Walter could bring to the Lakers.
California’s 2025 wildfire season was already going to be dangerous. Trump has made it worse
- Forecasts call for significant fire potential in California this year driven by hot, dry conditions.
- At the same time, President Trump has weakened three federal agencies that play key roles in the state’s ability to prepare for and respond to fires.
- Experts say changes at the U.S. Forest Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could put California at a dangerous disadvantage during fire season.
Can undocumented immigrants vote? Fact-checking Trump’s false accusations of voting fraud in L.A.
- In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump said Los Angeles and “other such cities, are the core of the Democrat Power Center, where they use illegal aliens to expand their voter base, cheat in elections, and grow the welfare state, robbing good paying jobs and benefits from hardworking American citizens.”
- But according to Los Angeles County election officials, that’s simply not true.
- “That claim is false and unsupported, and only serves to create unsubstantiated concern and confusion about the electoral process,” the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s office said in a statement.
As the summer harvest season launches, confusion and uncertainty hang over California fields
- As the crucial summer harvest season gets underway in California, farmers and their workers say they feel whiplashed by a series of contradictory signals about how the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration might affect them.
- When federal immigration agents rolled into the berry fields of Oxnard last week and detained 40 farmworkers, growers up and down the state grew worried along with their workers.
- Farm laborers, many of whom have lived and worked in their communities for decades, were terrified of being rounded up and deported, separated from their families and livelihoods.
What else is going on
- Metro scrambles to find funding for massive bus fleet that is the heart of its Olympics plans.
- California’s economy will contract due to immigration raids and tariffs, UCLA forecast predicts.
- Will employers be targeted for hiring undocumented workers?
- Former California and Los Angeles Democratic Party chair Eric Bauman has died at 66.
- Rancho Palos Verdes saw a dramatic uptick in peacocks. Officials plan to cut their numbers.
- L.A. County supervisor worries it’s ‘bad players’ — not ICE — terrorizing residents.
- The Supreme Court upholds red-state laws that ban hormones for transgender teens.
Commentary and opinions
- Where’s the music that meets this moment? Black artists are stepping up, argues columnist LZ Granderson.
- Guest columnist Vivek Maru asks: What does Juneteenth have in common with today’s immigration raids?
This morning’s must reads
The dueling litigation is the latest in a string of legal battles that Priscilla and the Presley heirs have been involved in since Elvis died nearly 50 years ago, leaving a financial legacy as messy and fraught as the King’s life.
Other must reads
- Streaming films top theatrical when it comes to diversity, new Hollywood study shows.
- Could a new Pixies classic be on the way? Joey Santiago wants to get into that ‘frame of mind.’
For your downtime
Going out
- Restaurants: With the new Vin Folk, Hermosa Beach becomes a culinary destination.
- Fashion: What to wear this summer and the best L.A. vintage finds, according to stylist Bin X. Nguyen.
Staying in
- Books: Grift and greed have deadly consequences in Megan Abbott’s “El Dorado Drive,” a mystery about suburban women caught up in a pyramid scheme called the Wheel.
- Recipes: Here’s a recipe for Molly Baz’s pistachio, brown butter and halva chocolate chunk cookies.
- ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.
And finally ... from our archives
On June 19, 1865, Union Army Major Gen. Gordon Granger entered Galveston, Texas, with General Order No. 3, a proclamation to alert the enslaved Black residents of the state that they were free under the provisions of the Emancipation Proclamation.
The day has been commemorated every year since 1866 as Juneteenth, a combination of the words June and nineteenth, as we mentioned above.
In 2021, The Times talked to Black Angelenos about their first Juneteenth and why it’s a day they’ll never forget.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, Sunday writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.
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