By admin 
CONCORD, N.C. (WJZY) — A Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners meeting turned heated after one commissioner called Juneteenth “a lie,” drawing sharp criticism from community leaders as the board moved forward to formally recognize the holiday.
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Commissioner Larry Pittman made the remarks during general comments at Monday night’s meeting, questioning both the history and timing of the holiday.
“First of all I want to address this thing about Juneteenth. I don’t support it because it is based on a lie,” Pittman said.
His comments prompted interruptions from the audience and fellow attendees, as tensions escalated inside the meeting chambers.
The debate came as commissioners approved a resolution recognizing Friday, June 19, as Juneteenth, a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.
Pittman also challenged how the holiday is taught and observed.
“True history is important, not what an elitist point of view forces to be taught in schools and ignores the real truth of what happened,” he said.
Cabarrus County NAACP President Theron Smoutherson condemned the remarks, saying they were not surprising but deeply concerning.
“Considering who it came from, I’m not surprised,” Smoutherson said. “He is not a friend of the African American community.”
Smoutherson pushed back on Pittman’s suggestion that Juneteenth should be celebrated at a different time.
“We don’t tell him what day to celebrate Confederate holidays, so what gives him the right to tell us when we celebrate?” he said. “When you have a platform like he is and you’re saying things like that from the platform, it divides us more than it brings us together, and we’re divided enough as it is.”
Pittman indicated he would support recognizing the end of slavery in December, when the 13th Amendment was ratified. Smoutherson said that argument reflects a misunderstanding of the holiday’s significance.
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“That’s not how it works. That’s not how we choose our holidays,” he said. “It’s how we react and stand up to it that makes a difference — stand up and show our pride and who we are.”
In a statement, Cabarrus County officials said the Juneteenth observance represents the effective end of slavery in the United States and reflects the principle that all men are created equal.
During Monday night’s meeting, the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution recognizing June 19 as Juneteenth.
This approval showed majority support for celebrations of the holiday locally and across the country.
As stated in the proclamation, the majority of the board recognizes that the day “represents the effective end of chattel slavery in the United States and symbolizes the triumph of freedom, justice and the American ideal that all men are created equal.”
In addition to Juneteenth, the board believes in recognizing the many celebrations that commemorate freedom in the United States.
Any comment about the dissenting vote on the proclamation should come from the individual who cast that vote.
The meeting grew more tense as Pittman continued his remarks, at one point saying, “It makes me sick what passes for history that is falsehood and I will not just sit by and take it.”
Pittman told Queen City News he does not do interviews when we requested one after the meeting.
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