These federal holidays have always involved some expression of gratitude. We thank God on Thanksgiving, Christmas and even Independence Day, which, in the words of John Adams, “ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.” Washington’s Birthday, Columbus Day, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day were established to express our national appreciation for great men who helped to build our country. On Veterans Day, we give thanks to our servicemen; on Memorial Day, to those servicemen no longer with us; and on Labor Day, to the ordinary workers who do their jobs day in and day out to keep our country running. Even New Year’s Day involves “a cup o’ kindness yet for auld lang syne.”
But gratitude seems conspicuously absent from the recent recognition of “Juneteenth.” It commemorates no concrete act or particular man but rather an overdue, inconclusive episode on the never-ending march toward progress. If legislators merely wanted to mark the end of slavery, both the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment seem better candidates than a local tradition from Galveston, Texas. And both would occasion gratitude — for Lincoln, for the legislators, for the concrete acts that secured the freedom of the slaves.
But that sort of gratitude now offends the Left. Noah Berlatsky, an editor of The Atlantic, typified this attitude in 2014 when he took to the pages of his magazine to whine about “white savior” narratives in several films, including a biopic about Abraham Lincoln, the white savior who freed the slaves. This week, NPR television critic Eric Deggans went even further, criticizing Tom Hanks for having portrayed white men in any way “doing the right thing” in his historical films.
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But gratitude seems conspicuously absent from the recent recognition of “Juneteenth.” It commemorates no concrete act or particular man but rather an overdue, inconclusive episode on the never-ending march toward progress. If legislators merely wanted to mark the end of slavery, both the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment seem better candidates than a local tradition from Galveston, Texas. And both would occasion gratitude — for Lincoln, for the legislators, for the concrete acts that secured the freedom of the slaves.
But that sort of gratitude now offends the Left. Noah Berlatsky, an editor of The Atlantic, typified this attitude in 2014 when he took to the pages of his magazine to whine about “white savior” narratives in several films, including a biopic about Abraham Lincoln, the white savior who freed the slaves. This week, NPR television critic Eric Deggans went even further, criticizing Tom Hanks for having portrayed white men in any way “doing the right thing” in his historical films.
