Commending the NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan upon the occasion of hosting its Juneteenth Celebration on June 17, 2026

Senate Resolution No. 2266

BY: Senator PARKER

        COMMENDING the NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan
        upon   the   occasion   of  hosting  its  Juneteenth
        Celebration on June 17, 2026

  WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body to  recognize  and
pay  tribute to those institutions whose commitment to the cultural life
and historical memory of their communities reflects the  highest  ideals
of civic service and community care; and

  WHEREAS,  Attendant  to  such  concern,  and in full accord with its
long-standing traditions, this  Legislative  Body  is  justly  proud  to
commend NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan upon the occasion of hosting
its  Juneteenth Celebration on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, under the theme
"Honoring the Past, Serving the Present, and Inspiring the Future"; and

  WHEREAS,  Juneteenth  commemorates  June  19,  1865,  the  day  that
enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, learned of their freedom
more  than  two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation
and has since become  one  of  the  most  profound  observances  in  the
American  calendar,  a  day not only of remembrance, but of celebration,
resilience, and the collective reaffirmation that the work  of  freedom,
though  long  and  unfinished,  is worth every generation's most devoted
effort; and

  WHEREAS, On June 17, 2021, President  Biden  signed  the  Juneteenth
National  Independence  Day  Act  into  law,  making June 19th a federal
holiday and affirming the Nation's recognition that  the  liberation  of
enslaved  Black  Americans  is a founding story of American freedom that
deserves to be honored in the fullest and most public way; and

  WHEREAS, The theme of this year's celebration, "Honoring  the  Past,
Serving  the  Present,  and Inspiring the Future," is a call to hold all
three of those imperatives at once: to look honestly and  gratefully  at
the  struggle that brought us here, to show up fully for the communities
we serve today, and to invest with intention in the generations who will
carry this work forward; and

  WHEREAS, Juneteenth celebrations are acts of cultural affirmation  -
of  Black  joy, Black history, Black community, and the living legacy of
those who endured the unsurvivable and built something extraordinary  on
the  other  side;  and  gatherings like this one, hosted by institutions
rooted in the communities  they  serve,  are  among  the  most  powerful
expressions  of  what  it means to honor that legacy not in the abstract
but in practice; and

  WHEREAS,  This  Legislative  Body  is  proudly  moved  to  celebrate
Juneteenth alongside the staff, patients, families, and community of NYC
Health  +  Hospitals/Metropolitan,  and to affirm that the observance of
this day is not merely a commemoration of the past but a  commitment  to
the future; now, therefore, be it

  RESOLVED,  That  this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commend NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan upon the occasion of hosting

its Juneteenth Celebration on June 17, 2026,  and  to  extend  heartfelt
congratulations and deepest appreciation to all who gather in the spirit
of freedom, joy, and community this Juneteenth; and be it further

  RESOLVED,  That  copies  of  this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to Julian S. John, Chief Executive Officer,  and  the  staff
and  community of NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan, in recognition of
their  commitment  to  honoring  the  past,  serving  the  present,  and
inspiring the future.