When you look out in the world, we see and hear the outrage of our black brothers and sisters. It’s good to see companies finally seeking change towards racial injustice and inequality. Nike officially has made Juneteenth an annual paid holiday for its U.S. employees. So starting this month, all Nike employees get June 19 off. To pay respects to the day slavery “ended” in the United States. In an internal memo sent by John Donahoe, the CEO addressed staff stating:
“When we say that Black Lives Matter, it applies to the world outside of Nike and, importantly, it applies to our Black teammates within Nike. Simply put, we need to hold ourselves to a high standard given the heritage of our company and our brand.”
Furthermore, Nike will take an additional step towards change by introducing a diversity education program between June 19 to July 4. These will be internal programming and learning opportunities for all employees regarding inequality and racial injustice. Donahoe also stated: “Our expectation is that each of us uses this time to continue to educate ourselves and challenge our perspectives and learn. I know that is what I intend to do.”
