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GALLATIN COUNTY, Ill. (WEVV) — During Thursday night’s County Board meeting in Gallatin County, Illinois, a motion and comments made about the federal holiday Juneteenth by a board member sparked debate.

One item on the Thursday night agenda for the Gallatin County Board was the “Discussion and Possible Approval of Courthouse 2025 Holiday Schedule.”

A feed of the board meeting shows Board Member Warren Rollman make a motion to approve the schedule, minus Juneteenth.

After all but one of the board members vote “yes” in favor, an attendee of the meeting can be heard off-camera questioning the decision to exclude Juneteenth from the holiday schedule.

“Well for one we’ve already got too many holidays, and two, it’s a fake holiday created by the Democrats to pander to Black voters,” Rollman responds.

The off-camera attendee accuses Rollman of bigotry, to which he responds, “Just the facts. We all know that’s why it happened. They were trying to get Black people to continue to vote for them, that’s why they did that.”

The audience member can be heard making another comment as the board moves on, but what was said was indistinguishable.

You can see the clip from Thursday’s meeting below.

Debate broke out at a board meeting in southern Illinois after members voted to exclude Juneteenth from the 2025 holiday schedule. One board member responds to an off-camera audience member who questioned the decision, calling Juneteenth a “fake holiday created by the Democrats to pander to Black voters.” (Video via Gallatin County Board Illinois Unofficial, Facebook)