President Obama has issued a proclamation to commemorate Law Day, a holiday that was originally established to undermine workers' rights protests on May 1.
Today, when workers around the world are rallying for better working conditions, Obama has urged Americans to celebrate laws that ensure equality such as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act (which, by the way, the Supreme Court is on the verge of dismantling).
While Obama says Law Day is all about equality, the law was actually enacted during the Cold War as a way to detract from the workers' rights celebrations surrounding May Day.
During that time, people associated workers' rights with socialism and, in turn, the threat of nuclear warfare. While Americans don't get a three-day weekend because of Law Day, the holiday still exists even though the Cold War is over. From the History Channel:
"On a day that, in many parts of the world, inspires devotion to the rights of the working classes to participate in government, Law Day asks Americans to focus upon every American's rights as laid out in the fundamental documents of American democracy: the Declaration of Independence and the federal Constitution."
In honor of Law Day, the American Bar Association has a lot of its website to the holiday. Legal publications are also tweeting about it like crazy, but people in America still haven't forgotten about traditional May Day celebrations.
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