Charles Kellogg: Appreciating Juneteenth as important federal holiday

To The Daily Sun,

Regarding Juneteenth, I must admit that at first I was annoyed when I found the post office closed.

Upon reflection and having more information about the new federal holiday I realized how great a holiday it should be and be celebrated by all.

I hope the theme of future celebrations is to honor and thank the over 1,000,000 (646,392 Union and 454,000 Confederate) brave soldiers who died in the war, including the 180,000 African American soldiers. That is one soldier for every four slaves freed.

Those of us who are not decedents of slaves should thank these heroes and also the abolitionists, for correcting the sin of tolerating slavery.

It also provides a wonderful opportunity for descendants of slaves to express their admiration and gratitude to those that secured their freedom. Without those sacrifices, they might still be slaves.

It also provides a day for other Black groups such as the BLM to acknowledge that non-Black people have contributed greatly to their race.

The holiday should be a celebration of freedom, especially for decedents of slaves, comparable to July 4th celebration where brave patriots made great sacrifices to gain our nation's freedom from England.

Charles Kellogg

Gilford