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VAIL, Iowa — During a conversation with Iowa voters on Saturday, Vivek Ramaswamy suggested canceling Juneteenth, calling it a “useless” holiday.
Less than two months ago, however, he posted a video to social media celebrating the day.
While breaking down his plan to institute a national voting holiday, the GOP presidential candidate proposed making space for the new holiday by canceling an old one on Saturday.
“Cancel Juneteenth or one of the other useless ones we made up,” Ramaswamy said to an applauding crowd gathered at a welding company here.
When asked by NBC News to clarify whether he thought Juneteenth is a “useless” holiday, Ramaswamy said, “I basically do.”
Less than two months ago, on Juneteenth itself, Ramaswamy spoke differently about the celebration.
“We don’t just look back and flog ourselves,” said Ramaswamy in the video on June 19, 2023, posted to his social media account on the platform previously known as Twitter.
“What we celebrate is how far we’ve come. And as a first-generation American myself, you better believe I’m proud of it. Happy Juneteenth everybody,” he added.
When NBC News asked Ramaswamy on Saturday if he believed Veterans Day or Memorial Day were also useless holidays, the GOP presidential candidate said he didn’t.
“I stand with the presumption of time-tested traditions,” said Ramaswamy.
While Juneteenth only became a federal holiday in 2021, it’s been observed since 1866.
And in 2004, President George W. Bush issued a statement commemorating the holiday.
On Saturday, Ramaswamy called the Juneteenth holiday “redundant,” saying it overlapped with other holidays like Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents’ Day.
Yet Juneteenth celebrates something completely different. As the National Museum of African American History and Culture notes, Juneteenth celebrates the anniversary of when Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, and announced a quarter million black people were free by executive decree.
“The reason for making it a holiday was under political duress; it was a political hostage situation on the back of the death of George Floyd,” said Ramaswamy.
This past Juneteenth, the NAACP issued a statement saying, “Today we celebrate our emancipation while also acknowledging that we are still fighting for true freedom.”
Jonathan Allen contributed.
