From: Marissa Madrigal To: Marissa Madrigal Subject: Juneteenth to be recognized as a paid Metro holiday for all employees Date: Tuesday, June 16, 2020 6:25:30 PM Effective immediately, June 19 will be a paid holiday for Metro employees in celebration of Juneteenth. Juneteenth commemorates the day that the last enslaved Black people in the United States were freed in Galveston, Texas in 1865. This signified the end of one era of slavery two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Lincoln. It is believed that the two-year delay is a result of federal troops working with slave owners to withhold the news of the declaration in order to reap the benefits of another cotton harvest. We commemorate this moment of freedom with reverence and love for Black ancestors who endured unspeakable pain. We celebrate in solidarity, joy and love for Black people living today. We celebrate the knowledge that paradigms do fall, uprisings bring change and we need not accept existing systems of oppression as permanent fixtures of American society. We also acknowledge that Juneteenth was not a full liberation of the minds, bodies and souls of Black folks. The failed Reconstruction era into Jim Crow laws and continued attempts to deny people access to land, commerce and wealth have persisted to the present day through redlining, over- policing and the prison industrial complex. In celebrating Juneteenth we continue to recognize the humanity, resiliency and contributions of past, current and future Black people in this nation. Please join me in thanking some of the Black staff at Metro for pushing for this change and join me in the continued learning about Juneteenth now and for the future: · This Is Why Juneteenth Is Important for America (video) · What is Juneteenth? (Cartoon of Fun Facts about Juneteenth) This is the first of many steps Metro is taking as an institution to demonstrate that Black Lives Matter. More to come. Marissa Madrigal (she/her) Chief Operating Officer Metro 600 NE Grand Ave. Portland, OR 97232 [email protected] 503-314-1813 .
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