Nike, NFL and others to start giving workers Juneteenth off

Nike, NFL and or businesses will give ir employees a day off for Juneteenth for first time this year, latest example of how American employers are responding to protests that have placed ditional attention on racial injustice in U.S.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865 when Major General Gordon Granger came to Galveston, Texas, to anunce end of Civil War and slavery. Although slavery was alrey abolished more than two years earlier by Emancipation Proclamation, it continued in some areas.

Texans began celebrating day a year later with pares and parties. It’s t a federal holiday, but most states observe it in some way, except three: Hawaii, rth Dakota and South Dakota, according to a

Businesses have been forced to re-examine ir policies after pressure from employees and ongoing protests over death of George Floyd on May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into handcuffed black man’s neck for several minutes, even after he pleed for air.

Some businesses have professed

This week, Nike CEO John Donahoe told workers y would get Juneteenth off starting this year as a way to celebrate black culture and history.

“Our expectation is that each of us use this time to continue to educate ourselves and challenge our perspectives and learn,” Donahoe wrote in a memo. “I kw that is what I intend to do.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who last week

“ power of this historical feat in our country’s blemished history is felt each year," Goodell wrote in a memo. "But re is question that magnitude of this event weighs even more heavily today in current climate.”

After getting feedback from black employees, New York Times said it would give employees an ditional day off and encourd m to use it on June 19.

Earlier this week, Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted that U.S. employees would have Juneteenth off “forevermore” as a day for "celebration, education, and connection.” Dorsey said employees at Square, mobile payments services company he also runs, would get day off, too.