In the past, Donald Trump has shunned the idea of a traditional transfer of power, even way back to the 2016 campaign when he was seemingly joking about it. Now, with the election just over a month away, he was recently asked by a reporter at a news conference how he would respond if he was to lose the election in November.

The question was asked because of the fact that there are many American cities right now that are rioting because of racial killings by police, and most recently because of the decision to only indict one of the three officers involved in the murder of Breonna Taylor, an African-American ER Technician who was killed in her sleep by police bullets in March 2020.

Trump has referred to protesters as “terrorists” according to the New York Times, and supports the National Guard being sent to the cities that are holding large protests. And, he recently refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power after the election.

Trump’s Response to Having a Peaceful Transfer of Power After the Election

The question Trump was asked about having peaceful transfer of power after the election (whatever the results may be in November) was very important to ask with the dangerous rioting going on all over the United States. With him being the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, notably the National Guard, the American public wants to know how he’ll react if he loses in November.

Trump choosing reporters to talk to during the conference where he is refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. Image from NBC News.

The conversation between Trump and the reporter went like this:

REPORTER: Win, lose, or draw in this election, will you commit here today to a peaceful transfer of power? There’s been rioting in Louisville, there’s been rioting in many cities across this country, in both of the so-called red and blue states. Will you commit to making sure that there is a peaceful transferral of power after the election?

TRUMP: Well, we’re gonna have to see what happens. You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots. And the ballots are a disaster.

REPORTER: I understand that. But people are rioting. Do you commit to making sure that there is a peaceful transfer of power?

TRUMP: Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very peaceful transfer, there won’t be a transfer frankly, there will be a continuation. The ballots are out of control. You know it. And you know who knows it better than anybody else? The democrats know it better than anyone else.

Reactions to Trump Not Committing to a Peaceful Transition of Power

“Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus,” tweeted Mitt Romney, a republican who isn’t hesitant when it comes to criticizing Trump. “Any suggestion that a president might not respect this constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable.”

Joe Biden was asked how he felt about Trump’s response. “What country are we in?” he said according to The Hill, then removed his mask so that the reporters could hear him clearer. “I’m being facetious, I said what country are we in? He says the most irrational things. I don’t know what to say about it, but it doesn’t surprise me.”

The top republican in the senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, also responded against Trump on Twitter “There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792,” he wrote.

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On July 30th, 2020, former President Barack Obama suggested turning Election Day into a National Holiday. “Naming it the John Lewis Voting Rights Act is a fine tribute,” said the former Commander-in-Chief in the eulogy he gave for Congressman John Lewis. “But, John wouldn’t want us to stop there, just trying to get back to where we already were.”

It’s only right to honor the late civil rights hero in that fashion, and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (who I’m proud to say is a Democratic Representative from my home State of South Carolina) vouched for his long-time friend in making it happen. According to what one of his spokespersons told CNN, on the Sunday before Lewis’ funeral Congressman Clyburn offered legislation to change the name of H.R 24.

The very next day, the House approved his proposal, and now his dear deceased friend will be even more remembered for the sacrifices that they both made while battling segregation and racial hatred side by side in the 1960’s.

Mr. Obama obviously is happy about it, being that he’s seen Congressman Lewis as a mentor for so many years. “Once we’d passed the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, we should keep marching to make it even better,” he continued in the eulogy. “By making sure that every American is automatically registered to vote, including former inmates who’ve earned their second chance. By adding polling places and expanding early voting. And, by making Election Day a National Holiday, so if you are somebody who’s working in a factory, or you’re a single mom who’s got to go to her job and doesn’t get time off, you can still cast your ballot.”

    What’s the Difference Between a National and Federal Holiday?

When you Google search National Holidays in the U.S., then do a search for Federal Holidays in the U.S., the same holidays pop up. Those are the main ten that we all know, which are Christmas and New Year’s, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, President George Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veteran’s Day and, my favorite National/Federal Holiday, Thanksgiving, a.k.a. Turkey Day.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word holiday itself means “holy day”. In my opinion, the dictionary is wrong this time. I mean, what’s so holy about a holiday like Groundhogs Day? And God knows the devil comes out of me on April Fool’s Day (at least the people who I pull pranks on think so). On top of that, we purposefully celebrate fictional serial killers on Halloween. How in the hell is that holy?

I was surprised after I researched a little more, and found out that it was actually true. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, holiday derives from the Old English term haligdæg, which means “holy or consecrated day”. If that’s the case, then whoever invented some of the holidays that we celebrate in America must have been drinking too much Old English instead of studying it.

Anyway, the difference between a Federal Holiday and a National Holiday is that National Holidays are also defined as celebrations that represent a nation’s birth or its gaining of independence. The closest thing that we have to a National Holiday in the United States is Independence Day. That particular day has one of the primary traits of an actual National Holiday, because July 4th, 1776 represents the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. being born as an independent nation.

But, States still have the right to decide whether or not they want to recognize those days as such. For example, it took the State of Iowa until the year 1999 to recognize MLK Day as a National/Federal Holiday, a days when banks, schools, post and government offices are supposed to be closed.

A National Holiday is also defined a legal one that’s not created by any State or Local authorities, but by the central government of an entire nation. It is celebrated throughout a nation. To, me, this means that all businesses should be closed in observance of that particular holiday. But, realistically, that’s just not going to happen, I don’t think.

So, on a day such as Election Day, in addition to it being made a National/Federal Holiday, all U.S. employers (not just the ones in Rhode Island and Massachusetts), should be required to give their workers the option of taking a paid day off on National Holidays.  

 Should Election Day Be Made Into a National Holiday?

Employees who work in certain places outside of the United States have it so much better than us when it comes to getting time off for things like holidays. Take the European Union (EU), for example. According to a September 2019 report from the Society for Human Resource Management, workers in Spain are entitled to at least thirty paid days of annual holiday time off.

In the EU, they have what is called the Working Time Derivative, which guarantees four weeks off every year. So, if you work in a place such as the United Kingdom, you’d automatically get those weeks of paid holiday time.

So, to answer the question in the header, do I think Election Day in America should be a National Holiday? Well, seeing as how the only two States in this nation that require companies to offer paid time off to their employees on National Holidays are Rhode Island and Massachusetts, yes I do.

I don’t think that’s too much to ask. Especially in an election year like this one, with the type of leadership we have in our government right now.

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U.S. Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis died on July 17th, 2020 from pancreatic cancer. After representing Georgia’s 5th District in the U.S. House of Representatives for over 30 years, one of our strongest soldiers against racial injustice passed away at the age of 80.

I think young people today should look at everything he did in his early 20’s and realize that no matter how young you are, you can make a huge difference in society. I personally appreciate him the most for putting himself in harm’s way just so I can vote.

That being said, please honor his memory by hitting the polls this year in 2020. He shed a lot of blood in his life for us to be able do so.

The Early Life of Congressman John Lewis

I think that former United States President Barack Obama said it best when describing Congressman Lewis’ early life while giving his eulogy at the funeral that was held in Atlanta on July 30th. “John was born into modest means,” he said. “That means he was po’.”

Not poor, but po’. As a person who has lived a low-income life, I know that po’ is a lot worse.

The city he was born near, Troy, Alabama, had been burned to the ground just a few decades before he came into the world. His parents were humble, poverty-stricken sharecroppers, and had a hard life to put it lightly. Sources that mention the burning down of Troy in 1901 don’t clearly say why the city was destroyed, or whether it was purposefully done. But, it’s no secret that similar events in the early 1900’s, such as the Burning of Black Wall Street a.k.a The Tulsa Oklahoma Race Massacre, were racially motivated.

Growing up seeing how African-Americans were so discriminated against in the Jim Crow South, John decided from a very young age that he would make it his life’s purpose to denounce racial segregation and promote equal human rights in America. In fact, he was only 21-years-old when he was arrested for being one of the original Freedom Riders.

This was a group that was started in the late 1940’s by the Congress of Racial Equality, also known as C.O.R.E. According to the New York Times, they started a movement called the Journey of Reconciliation, one where they put themselves in danger of constant verbal and physical harm from racist Whites of the time by riding buses around the southern part of the United States as a nonviolent way of protesting against segregation in the public transportation system.

Most people see Congressman Lewis as a disciple of the late Civil Rights Leader Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., because he took the route of nonviolence while standing up for racial equality. When he was just in his mid-20’s, John became the Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). This shy, but bold Fisk University college kid, would regularly sacrifice his own life and limb during his peaceful demonstrations against Jim Crow laws.

John got locked up over forty times, and beat up by racist white mobs on a regular basis, just so we as Black people can live a better life today. Things that we take for granted today (like freely jumping on a Greyhound bus and going wherever we want to, or sitting at a Waffle House enjoying a meal), he had to take severe bodily harm and repeated incidents of incarceration for us to be able to enjoy.

Like many of us, Dr. King was such a huge influence on his life. Congressman Lewis was actually the last living speaker from the March on Washington, which was the event where Martin’s “I Have a Dream” speech was given. A little known fact is that John almost didn’t even get to make his speech that day because of the language he wanted to use in it.

According to The Washington Post, when the Archbishop of Washington, Patrick O’Boyle, found out beforehand that Lewis’ speech referred to the term “patience” as a “dirty and nasty word”, he made the young man take the line out before allowing him to take the podium. Apparently, that type of language was offensive to the Catholic Church, so they made him tone it down a little bit.

With everything that he’s done in an attempt to achieve equal rights in this country for it’s now 13.4% of African-Americans, I still think the most important thing John Lewis did for his and this current generation is stand up for our right to vote. Bloody Sunday, the horrible event that eventually helped to push the Voting Rights Act into existence, was to me the most potent example of his bravery during that dismal time in history.

Congressman John Lewis’ Bravery on Bloody Sunday

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) had been trying for several months to get Black folks registered to vote in Selma’s County seat. Then, early in 1965, Dr. King came to that area in Alabama to back them up for their cause. With him being such a well-known figure in America in the fight for equal rights, there were of course a lot more peaceful demonstrations spontaneously initiated in and around the Selma area at that point and time, simply because of his dynamic influence.

You can just imagine how the tensions between racist people and those who were doing the demonstrations had to be brewing from the time he got there at the beginning of January until mid-February, when the event that triggered the March from Selma to Montgomery occured. In Marion, Alabama, about a month after Dr. King had arrived in the area, some state troopers became increasingly aggressive in beating protesters with clubs, and one of them ended up shooting a young demonstrator named Jimmie Lee Jackson.

A cop shot the 26-year-old African-American man when he was just trying to stop the police from beating up his mama. After that, civil rights leaders had had enough, and they decided that they were gonna march 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery, straight to Governor Wallace’s doorstep to state their issues. They got the permission of President Lyndon Johnson, and the Commander in Chief ordered the National Guard to protect them on their five-day journey.

When Lewis, King, and the other over 600 marchers reached the bridge that is named after the Confederate general and leader of the Ku Klux Klan, Edmund Pettus, I can imagine the eerie feeling that must have been thick in the air. When Lewis and the protesters got to the top of the bridge, they could see a huge wall of state troopers, brandishing their billy clubs.

Lewis and those at the front of the marchers stood their ground dozens of feet away from them at the foot of the bridge, and tried to talk to and reason with the angry racists. They refused, and proceeded to beat the protesters with everything from whips to barbed wire wrapped sticks.

The late Congressman John Lewis suffered a fractured skull during Bloody Sunday. The bridge is to this day still named after the Klan leader, but there are now talks of renaming it in John’s honor.

Not only as Black man, but as a man, I just want to say Thank you, John Lewis, for everything you did for me and my generation. May your fighting soul now rest peacefully.

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