And then there's the poll from a Weber Shandwick unit finding nearly 40 percent of C-suiters think DEI is a waste of time. That indicates Juneteenth as a holiday is a delicate subject. In addition, most PR pros were reluctant to participate in this article. Not all companies observe every federal holiday. However, if you think all is well for Juneteenth, consider the following. Moreover, following Senate passage yesterday (June 15) of a bill declaring Juneteenth a federal holiday, the House was expected to follow with a similar vote late today (June 16). Indeed, social conversations around the day rose 4,000 percent since last year. This year finds a good amount of momentum for Juneteenth. The world's richest man, Bezos, did not give staff the day off. Most important for this story, though, is that for Amazon’s Black staff Juneteenth 2020 was yet another day of work for an hourly wage. AMAZON PAID HOLIDAYS DRIVERS(Recently, Amazon admitted some of its drivers lack bathroom facilities, but denied it’s a result of a time crunch.) Allegations hold that workers lack time for bathroom breaks. As such, it made the Bezos memo sound at best naïve and tone deaf at worst. Time, though, is a precious commodity at Amazon. So, “take some time to reflect, learn and support each other,” he wrote. In it, Bezos noted he’d cleared his calendar on June 19 and urged other Amazon personnel to do the same, “if you can.” The company, Bezos wrote, was offering online learning opportunities. Owner Jeff Bezos also took the unusual step for him of sending a memo to employees. Not long after May 25, 2020, it declared it stood with the Black community through “#BLM.” In addition, it donated $10 million to justice organizations. Online retail behemoth Amazon fell in the middle. Some, like Target, paid workers time-and-a-half to work on Juneteenth. Others marked Juneteenth with messaging, but conducted business as usual. For example, several companies gave workers the day off. Last year, just weeks after George Floyd's killing on May 25, Juneteenth took on meaning for people who’d never heard of it. Unfortunately, slaves in the deep South, including those in Texas, weren’t liberated until a bit more than two-and-a-half years later. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in Sept. Yet Juneteenth officially exists because of a delay. It was originally celebrate June 19, 1865, the day when 250,000 slaves in Texas learned they were free. Juneteenth, or June 19, marks the end of slavery in the U.S.
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