Murphy signs bill making Juneteenth a state holiday during Instagram Live with SZA

Gov. Phil Murphy officially declared Juneteenth a state holiday during a live announcement on his Instagram account Thursday evening.

Signing the bill into law came after a 15-minute conversation with R&B star, and Maplewood native, SZA about race relations in New Jersey as she grew up and what still needs to be done.

She noted that “Jersey as a whole has so much potential to be just this amazing resting place for diversity and growth and learning.”

SZA did go on to say that the work is not done, though, and that the optimism and hope throughout the country is great but people “still have a ways to go.”

“It’s about taking steps, not being afraid, day-to-day convo about correcting, and as long as we stay open about what’s possible to correct and acknowledging that we have ways to go in making things more accessible,” SZA said. “I really feel like it’s that day-to-day, hand-to-hand work. That’s the real work.

"To be hopeful on the vast grand scale of country and national improvement is beautiful, but if we’re not looking at our council men and women, our mayors, our state legislators and talking to you and looking at our school systems and racial disparities that really come from economic disparities.”

Murphy noted that several states acknowledge Juneteenth but few have made it a state holiday. The holiday, June 19, will allow for state employees to be off from work.

He said the genesis of this is that on that date in 1865, the very last slaves heard that Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation 2½ years earlier and that this is a way to “commemorate that day in our nation’s history.”

“We still, in the first year of the fifth century since slavery came to our shores, the stain of racism lives on. We are still digging out of that legacy, and my guess is that we will be for a long time,” Murphy said. “This is an example of an action we can take. I think words matter, we all believe that, but actions matter even more.”

Katie Sobko is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: sobko@northjersey.com  Twitter: @katesobko