Detroit Lions Announce Support, Participation on Juneteenth

The Detroit Lions on Tuesday announced they were putting their full support behind "Juneteenth", including closing their offices this Friday to give employees time for reflection on this historically important date.

(Detroit Lions via Twitter)

According to wikipedia,

Juneteenth (a portmanteau of June and nineteenth), also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, and Cel-Liberation Day, is an American holiday celebrated annually on June 19. It commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union general Gordon Granger read federal orders in Galveston, Texas, that all previously enslaved people in Texas were free. Although the Emancipation Proclamation had formally freed them almost two and a half years earlier, and the American Civil War had largely ended with the defeat of the Confederate States in April, Texas was the most remote of the slave states, with a low presence of Union troops, so enforcement of the proclamation had been slow and inconsistent.

The Lions are among a growing number of sports teams and American businesses, in general, getting behind the Juneteenth holiday. The NFL has made the day an official holiday.So far, a half dozen teams have announced the support for Juneteenth.

Amazon is one of the latest tech business to acknowledge and support Juneteenth. While not all companies are stopping operations, Amazon and Google are among those encouraging employees to cancel meetings on Friday.

The embracing of the historical importance of the day has been a part of the aftermath of the death of George Floyd and subsequent reaction to his death, led the by Black Lives Matter movement.