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Petition to make Juneteenth an SC holiday hopes to spur movement on bill

A petition to make the day a holiday is circulating and last year a bill was introduced in the Senate.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A petition to make Juneteenth a SC holiday is making rounds . 

For five years, Jamal Bradley has helped put on the Juneteenth Festival in Columbia. 

Juneteenth is a date commemorating the freeing of the last slaves in the United States. 

The day has been adopted by many states as a holiday but not yet in South Carolina. 

 

This past summer Sen. Darrell Jackson introduced a bill (S0005) to Amend Section 53-5-10, Code Of Laws Of South Carolina, 1976, Relating To State Legal Holidays, So As To Provide The Nineteenth Day Of June - Juneteenth Shall Be A State Legal Holiday.

Bradley is working to get 200,000 signatures on a petition that coincides with a SC Senate bill to make Juneteenth a state holiday. 

Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Senator Darrell Jackson from Richland County introduced the bill back in June. 

The bill is still in committee discussion but Bradley hopes the signatures on the petition will help show lawmakers what the community thinks.  

To sign the petition, click here

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