Rejected petition Establish Emancipation Day on August 1st as a national bank holiday.

Rejected on 7 July 2020

Emancipation Day is observed in many former British colonies to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people of African descent. To acknowledge Britain's role in colonisation and end of the transatlantic slave trade, we petition the government to make August 1st a national bank holiday.

In our time, the public glorification of slave owners in Britain has come and past. We must now educate ourselves on the history of slavery and the mistreatment of BAME people in the UK. Public recognition of this history will seek to build bonds with the communities that have been victims of slavery and celebrate the healing process still ongoing. This holiday will act as a conduit for conversations on how we can shape a brighter future and separate ourselves from the mistakes of the past.

Why was this petition rejected?

There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.

You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.

You may wish to sign this petition calling for the same action: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/325202

We have also published several petitions about race and equality more widely, which you can view here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions?state=open&topic=race-and-equality

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.