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NEWS JUNE 22, 2020 ¦ 21

news to the Confederate states had been purposely employees to cancel meetings and make June 19 a
delayed. day of learning.
Hella Creative, a collective of San Francisco Bay Julia Taylor, vice president and general counsel at
Area friends and family that united at the height of Eventbrite, said the self-service ticketing platform’s
the COVID-19 pandemic, started the Hella June- black employee resource group was instrumental
teenth project to inspire corporate America to make to the company’s decision to make Juneteenth an
Juneteenth a paid observance for employees. official company holiday “this year and forever-
“Part of what we’re doing all of this for is re- more—as a way to further express our commitment
claiming black joy and how that looks to us and to racial justice, support the global Black Lives Mat-
understanding our history, being respected and ter movement, and stand in solidarity with our Black
having our freedoms granted to us fully extended, employees and creators everywhere,” she wrote in a
then also just representing that it’s more than tak- statement.
ing the day off,” said June Johnson, a Hella Creative “The decision to make Juneteenth a company hol-
member. “Companies have to drastically change iday was the result of important ongoing dialogue
their diversity and not just having with our Black + Brite employee
black and brown people on for di- group and is just one step we are
versity hires, but really changing taking in order to make meaning-
the landscape of their companies ful progress towards a globally
by hiring more diverse, black diverse and inclusive company,”
leadership.” she continued.
As of Wednesday morning, Leaders from Mastercard, Mastercard general counsel Tim
Hella Creative had 200 companies Adobe and Eventbrite Murphy said he plays a central role
publicly express their commit- in the discussions around diver-
share the reasons their
ment to observing Juneteenth. companies have decided to sity, inclusion and racial equality
Most companies, Johnson said, inside and outside the company.
are committed to making June- make Juneteenth an official “The decision to make Ju-
teenth a permanent paid holiday. holiday.
neteenth a Mastercard Day of
The group originally reached out Solidarity was born out of feed-
to companies where they had back from our Black leaders and
connections, and with press inter- recent company-wide forums,”
views attracting more companies, he wrote in a statement. “It’s very
Johnson said, it “spread like wild- clear that people are willing to
fire in a really organic way.” learn and change and have a strong
Twitter Inc. and Square Inc. CEO Jack Dors- desire to support their colleagues and communities,
ey made a splash on June 9 when he announced but there’s not always a knowledge of how to do that.
that both his companies will observe Juneteenth By giving our colleagues that time to learn, act and
as a paid holiday. Nike Inc., the National Foot- reflect—and signaling Mastercard’s commitment to
ball League, and Target Corp., which is based in do so—we hope to help drive meaningful change.”
Minneapolis where Floyd’s killing sparked the first As a general counsel, Murphy added that this is
protests, followed suit. Target has given store em- an opportunity to promote diversity and inclusion
ployees the option to take the paid time off or work internally and externally through the partnerships
with additional holiday pay. U.S. Bank, also based the legal department makes with outside law firms.
in Minneapolis, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. said “In addition, ensuring that we’re inclusive with-
they will close their branches early at 1 p.m. lo- in our own organization—including our legal
cal time on Friday for Juneteenth. Facebook Inc., team—as well as through our outside counsel firms,
Google LLC and Amazon.com Inc. have instructed
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