The View honored Juneteenth on Monday with a special program that included an interview with civil rights attorney Ben Crump and a performance by Kirk Franklin, but the co-hosts’ passionate appeal for history instruction was the most dramatic moment of the morning.
Sunny Hostin said she learned about Juneteenth at home, not in school, after Sara Haines, Joy Behar, and Ana Navarro admitted they only learned about the holiday a few years ago. Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.
“That’s the key,” Whoopi said, before recounting a similar anecdote about learning about Juneteenth from her mother. “It’s important to remember that this is your history.” You’re a citizen of the United States of America. You’re not an American with two names. You’re an American, and you’re going to battle anyone who tells you that you don’t deserve everything this country has to offer.”
“To be Black in America is tough,” Whoopi continued, as is “to be anything other” than white. “The key to all of this is that we have to listen to each other’s stories,” she explained. “Because they’re all intertwined and contribute to the making of American history.”
