Sen. Ron Johnson was booed at a Milwaukee Juneteenth celebration

published 21 June 2021

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) was greeted by boos and cries of "We don't want you here!" when he stopped by a Juneteenth celebration in Milwaukee on Saturday.

Johnson was there to visit a Republican Party booth, and he told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he was surprised by the heckling. "This is unusual for Wisconsin," he said. "Most people in Wisconsin say, 'You are in our prayers, we are praying for you.' ... But you got some people here that are just sort of nasty at some points."

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Initially, Johnson was against making Juneteenth a federal holiday, saying he didn't think taxpayers should have to cover the cost of federal workers having another day off, and last year he blocked the legislation. This time around, Johnson said he would no longer object to the bill, but still felt it was "strange" that "having taxpayers provide federal employees paid time off is now required to celebrate the end of slavery."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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