{"id":343742,"date":"2026-06-20T03:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T03:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/343742\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T03:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T03:53:11","slug":"texas-representatives-juneteenth-post-sparks-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/343742\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas representative\u2019s Juneteenth post sparks controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEXAS (KTAL\/KMSS<\/a>) \u2014 A Juneteenth Facebook post<\/a> from a Texas state representative has received criticism and pushback.<\/p>\n

Representative Jay Dean, a Republican representing District 7 since 2017, posted the following picture and caption on his Facebook page:<\/p>\n

\"(Image<\/p>\n

(Image courtesy of Rep. Jay Dean-Facebook page)<\/p>\n

Many respondents commented that Dean should have simply acknowledged the importance of the day without trying to use the occasion to score political points, with some of the comments stating:<\/p>\n

\u201cJuneteenth is an American celebration of freedom for all Americans. It is not a game of party politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBringing parties into play belittles what this day is about. You are further celebrating division.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRep. Jay Dean, the \u201cthank a republican,\u201d may be the tackiest thing I\u2019ve ever seen you post. You\u2019re not defending historical context, you\u2019re truly implying that one ethnicity (in a modern sense) should be thanking another ethnicity for their freedom. This political party game-playing is the most divisive thing happening. We can\u2019t even be Americans anymore; we\u2019re expected to belong to a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJuneteenth isn\u2019t a Republican holiday, a Democratic holiday, or a campaign slogan. It\u2019s a day that commemorates the freedom of enslaved Black Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

A guide to what the Juneteenth holiday is and how to celebrate it <\/a><\/p>\n

Jonathan McCarty, a local Civil War Historian, challenged Dean\u2019s accounting of history.<\/p>\n

\u201cJuneteenth does not celebrate the end of chattel enslavement in Texas. It\u2019s the federal enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation and the surrender of Confederate forces.<\/p>\n

The Proclamation was issued January 1, 1865. The 13th Amendment, which prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude, was ratified in December of 1865.<\/p>\n

The wording of that amendment still allows for both of those as a punishment for a crime. Martha Gibbs of Vicksburg, Mississippi, moved a group of enslaved men to Marshall, Texas, and held them in bondage to clear land and build a home, refusing to free them until the middle of 1866.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCarty also pointed to recent voting restrictions passed by Republicans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Voting Rights and Civil Rights Acts were passed into law a century after the end of the Civil War. Thanks to Republicans, the Voting Rights Act is under threat by the Supreme Court because your best good friends want to prevent Black Americans from electing the representation that they choose, per the 14th Amendment.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been a party switch, by the way. That\u2019s why Reagan became a Republican when he campaigned for Goldwater.<\/p>\n

Perhaps instead of celebrating today, read a book and reflect on the legacy of the Republican Party and how white Americans have been, and still are, denying basic freedom, equality, and justice to Black Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate resolution introduced to honor Juneteenth <\/a><\/p>\n

Dean did have some supporters in the comments, with one stating, \u201cTwo years after Juneteenth 1865, about 150 Black men helped found the Republican Party of Texas. The KKK was formed in late 1865 by Democrats, who used it to terrorize Black voters and Republicans across the South.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dean responded to several comments, doubling down on his statement, but he has also limited who can respond.<\/p>\n

You can now stream KTAL 6 and KMSS 33 News live 24\/7 on your smart TV\u00a0with\u00a0KTAL Now<\/a>,\u00a0our brand-new app!\u00a0No antenna, cable, or satellite needed\u2014watch for free, anytime.\u00a0Just download it on your Roku, Apple TV, or Fire TV and start streaming.<\/p>\n

More Local News<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTALnews.com. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEXAS (KTAL\/KMSS) \u2014 A Juneteenth Facebook post from a Texas state representative has received criticism and pushback. Representative…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59198,5893,75655,122622,122623,7218,27,29,28,105268],"class_list":["post-343742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-black-americans","tag-facebook","tag-jay-dean","tag-jay-dean-facebook","tag-jonathan-mccarty","tag-juneteenth","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-state-representative"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}