CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cleveland Cavaliers announced that they will recognize June 19, also known as Juneteenth, as an annual paid holiday for the entire organization. It will go into effect this Friday.
Juneteenth — sometimes referred to as Freedom Day — commemorates African-American freedom. On June 19, 1865, Union general Gordon Granger read federal orders in Galveston, Texas, that all previously enslaved people in Texas were free.
In 2006, Ohio began recognizing Juneteenth as a holiday.
As part of Friday’s celebration, the Cavaliers are encouraging everyone, including their numerous employees, to use the day to learn more about freedom for all, the fight for equality, and the struggle to end racial injustice.
Since the murder of George Floyd on May 25, a horrifying moment that led to protests and marches around the country, the Cavs have stood up against racial injustice.
A joint statement from head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and general manager Koby Altman expressed feelings of sadness, anger, frustration and disgust. The following week, the Cavs announced their participation in Blackout Tuesday, urging employees to use that day to reflect on how to best impact positive change, both individually and collectively.
“We have a diversity and inclusion department. I can’t think of any other teams that have them, maybe they do, but there’s not many if there are,” Bickerstaff said recently. “Our organization has done a great job before all of this happened to make sure that they’re pushing the right buttons and moving the cause forward.
“I do feel a responsibility to have a voice and be a part of the discussion, but everybody should. This is a two-sided issue. Either you’re for equality or you’re not, there’s no neutral. I think that’s where we’ve been caught for too long, we’ve let people off the hook in being neutral. I don’t think we can do that anymore. Racism is not just a black problem. It doesn’t just impact black people. It won’t change unless we all make a conscious decision and effort to help change it. All the coaches in the league — white, black, Filipino, Hispanic — we all have a responsibility to speak out on this. If you don’t speak out on it, you’ve made a choice. And that is the choice to be on the side of wrong, in my mind.”
Over the last few weeks, Bickerstaff has taken on an activist role, working to bring change to Cleveland. One of eight black head coaches in the NBA and part of the National Basketball Coaches Association’s committee on racial injustice and reform, Bickerstaff has gathered information from groups around the country. The NBCA committee has been in contact with Project Zero, Color of Change, the Innocence Project and My Brother’s Keeper — a mentoring project championed by former President Barack Obama.
Bickerstaff held multiple meetings with Danielle Sydnor, the president of the NAACP Cleveland chapter, about how to put together “actionable plans.” Bickerstaff has also spoken with the director of the Police Athletic League in Cleveland. There’s a future plan for Bickerstaff and Altman to team up with Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski and GM Andrew Berry on an initiative. Bickerstaff has grown close with the Browns’ coach through a relationship with Stefanski’s father, Ed, who is currently the Detroit Pistons’ senior advisor after years with the Grizzlies.
“Our goal and objective here is to put things in place that are sustainable and can hopefully outlast me here in Cleveland,” Bickerstaff said. “The issues we have as a whole in America won’t be solved overnight. But the most important thing to me and the message we want to make sure we’re sending is we’re in the mindset of prevention. Right now, in our society, with the majority of our issues and this issue in particular, we react when it happens. As long as the media cycle is covering it, people are up in arms and they’re doing things and then another distraction comes and we move away from the issue and then it happens again and we react. What my goal is in working with our organization and my family is to figure out ways we can prevent these incidents from happening.
“We’re done with statements. Now it’s time for us to be part of the action.”
Making Juneteenth a paid company holiday is another example of the Cavs putting words into action and continuing the surge of momentum against racial injustice around the country.
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