Today is Juneteenth, a holiday that many of you may not have ever heard of before this year. As a child, I was fortunate enough to learn about Juneteenth from my grandmother, who spoke to me and my sisters at length about celebrating Black liberation and fighting for equality for Black people in this country. Unfortunately, that was the only real source of information on Juneteenth I had at that time. It was not talked about in school, and I don’t remember even being able to find something in the encyclopedia, my go-to source for information back then before you know…the internet. Fast forward to today, and I can honestly share how surreal it is to celebrate this year knowing that this holiday is being celebrated by so many around the world. While this has certainly been a very challenging year, Juneteenth has now gained an amazing level of awareness and visibility and I see this as an incredible opportunity to help our Nitro community learn more and get greater meaning of what Juneteenth represents for each Nitronaut.
A couple weeks ago, our CEO Sam Chandler shared what Nitro is doing to help support Black Nitronauts, the Black community, and our collective family, in light of the recent events that sparked a global movement for greater equality and justice. We’ve encouraged and received so much positive discussion and feedback from our teams around the world and provided support and resources to help everyone get involved and engage in multiple ways. Since then, we’ve helped donate over $50,000 so far to Black Lives Matter and the NAACP, including direct donations from Nitro and double matching of Nitronaut donations. We also shuttered all Nitro offices on Friday, June 5, to give everyone an opportunity to rest, reflect, and participate however they wished in the midst of many demonstrations of support and protest in their local communities.
One of our core values is to “Be Good” – and I’m so proud of our Nitro community for living up to this value each and every day. But sometimes we need a special day like Juneteenth to remind us of the everyday freedom and equality that can so easily be taken for granted by so many, and that we must fight for to ensure that all have it. It’s also a way for us to celebrate the progress we make as individuals and as a community despite the challenges. To that end, I’m proud to share that moving forward Nitro will be recognizing Juneteenth as a company holiday globally. And, of course, we’ll be celebrating this holiday in our unique, Nitro way—but it’s important that we start with education and empathy for a greater understanding of Juneteenth and what it means.
Here are some resources to get started:
What is Juneteenth?
What to watch
- https://nerdist.com/article/juneteenth-movies-shows-stream-free/
- Everything you need to know about Juneteenth
What to read
- https://blog.kipp.org/teamandfamily/juneteenth-books-for-all-ages-that-keep-its-history-alive/
- https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/opinion/juneteenth-slavery-freedom.html
What to do
- https://www.juneteenthmusicfestival.com/
- https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/holiday/virtual-juneteenth-celebrations/73-6c4e12ba-01d9-452f-bca8-77d1eb0bb42c
How to support
- NAACP: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/naacp-1
- National Museum of African American History & Culture: https://nmaahc.si.edu/splashify-splash
- https://www.moadsf.org/support-us/make-a-donation/
