Juneteenth Now Permanent Company Holiday For Twitter
The George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests nationwide have sparked corporations to make statements and take action. Twitter is now positioning itself at the forefront and announced it’ll be honoring Juneteenth by making it a company wide holiday.
The social media platform’s CEO Jack Dorsey announced on Tuesday (June 9) that both Twitter and Square, where he is also CEO, will designate the June 19 holiday for all its employees, noting that other “countries and regions around the world have their own days to celebrate emancipation, and we will do the work to make those dates company holidays everywhere we are present.”
Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, but isn’t an official national holiday.
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“Both Twitter and Square are making #Juneteenth (June 19th) a company holiday in the US, forevermore. A day for celebration, education, and connection,” Dorsey tweeted, along with this link for more information.
Vox Media also announced it would be making Juneteenth a company holiday and create a fellowship program focused on Black journalists.
Almost every major company has released a statement in the wake of the George Floyd protests in support of Black Lives Matter. Many though are receiving criticism for making empty gestures instead of taking real action to address systemic racism. Amazon and Microsoft have both faced scrutiny for continuing to work with police departments.