Dem Tennessee county commissioner says Presidents’ Day is ‘racist,’ proposes ‘Family, Friends, and Employees Holiday’ as replacement
A Tennessee county commissioner proposed an amendment to change the name of the federal holiday “Presidents’ Day,” claiming that the name is “racist” because presidents owned slaves in the past.
On Wednesday, Democrat Shelby County Commissioner Henri Brooks proposed an amendment, titled “Racial Exclusion and Humiliation,” to the board, which would rename Presidents’ Day to “Family, Friends, and Employees Holiday.”
While presenting the bill, Brooks argued that the holiday was created to honor Founding Father George Washington, which she cannot support because President Washington was a slaveholder, saying, “If we’re going to honor his history and legacy, let’s not cherrypick and whitewash.”
“Slavery was legal in this country from its beginning as a nation, having been practiced in North America from early colonial days,” she continued.
“Twelve US Presidents owned, enslaved, bought, and bred enslaved persons at some point in their lives. Of these twelve presidents, eight of them owned slaves while in the presidency. Ten of the first twelve American presidents owned slaves,” said Brooks.
Therefore, Brooks contended that the name should be changed countywide to “Family, Friends, and Employees Holiday.”
The suggestion was lambasted on social media after a video clip of Brook’s proposal made its way onto X, formerly known as Twitter.
“According to Democrats I would really love to know what’s not racist?” wrote one user in the comments of the video clip.
Another said, “Everything is racist, the word has become so diluted it means nothing anymore.”
“I’m getting the impression that Democrats don’t really love their country,” added another.