Still silence from Jerry Jones, but Dallas Cowboys now honoring Juneteenth as holiday
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has not joined the chorus of team owners and company executives to make a public statement denouncing racism since the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd on May 25, sparking protests against police brutality and racial inequality.
But add the Cowboys to the list of the sports teams and companies that are now giving their employees a paid day off in observance of the Juneteenth holiday.
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 the slaves almost two and a half years earlier — and the American Civil War had ended with the defeat of the Confederate States — the news and, thus enforcement, was slow to reach Texas because it was the most remote of the slave states and had a low presence of Union troops.
Blacks in Texas began celebrating their freedom on that date as early as 1866. It has now spread to major cities across the country as emancipation day.
Juneteenth is recognized as a state holiday or special day of observance in 47 states.
There is a growing push to make it a national holiday.
A Change.org petition, Make Juneteenth a National Holiday in 2020, has been launched by Opal Lee, a 93-year-old Fort Worth woman.
“Juneteenth is not just a festival,” she said last week. “Juneteenth is a day of joy for all America. It’s the day we gained true liberty, with the arrival of the U.S. Army in Texas to free slaves after Confederate surrender.
“It should be a unifier.”
Protests against police brutality and racial inequality that were sparked by Floyd’s death have been continuing across the world for the past three weeks.
Hella Creative, which has spawned the campaign HellaJuneteenth, has compiled a list of companies that will honor Juneteenth as a holiday. More than 120 are on the list.
The NFL announced last week it will close its office Friday for Juneteenth. The Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos have made it a company holiday as did the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks.
The Cowboys sent an email to their employees on Saturday informing them that Juneteenth would be a paid holiday.
This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 7:18 AM.
