SALT LAKE CITY — Amid the social unrest across the United States, many companies have announced they will officially observe Juneteenth, which commemorates emancipation from slavery in the country, as on June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and declared that the Civil War was over and that all those enslaved were now free.
The Utah Jazz on Wednesday announced that along with the wider Larry H. Miller Sports & Entertainment company, which includes the Salt Lake Bees, Megaplex Theatres, Vivint Arena and The Zone Sports Network, it will observe the holiday on Friday.
As part of that observation, team employees will have access to watch “John Lewis: Good Trouble,” a new film about the United States representative who met Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a teenager in the 1950s and has long been a prominent figure in the civil rights movement.
“In the midst of the national conversation and calls for racial justice, our franchise has made the decision to pause, work to further educate ourselves, and reflect on our country’s race relations both past and present by observing Juneteenth,” Jazz president Jim Olson said in a statement.
“This is an important milestone in our history and another step for us to learn more about freedom for all and the fight for equality, and ideally be part of helping to create meaningful change.”