Taylor Swift is taking Friday (June 19) off to celebrate Juneteenth and rededicate herself to learning and listening. In a series of early morning tweets, Swift thanked the site The Root for letting her repost a video explaining why the annual celebration of the end of slavery should be a national holiday.
Additionally, as the 155-year-old holiday gains renewed prominence in the wake of national protests over the police killing of George Floyd and momentum to make it an official U.S. holiday gains steam, Swift also revealed that she’s giving all her employees the day off “in honor of Freedom Day from now on, and to continue to educate myself on the history that brought us to this present moment.”
Swift said she’s also taking time to reflect on recent events and make sure she’s paying attention and checking her own privilege as she stands up for righteous causes. “For my family, everything that has transpired recently gives us an opportunity to reflect, listen, and reprogram any part of our lives that hasn’t been loudly and ferociously anti-racist, and to never let privilege lie dormant when it could be used to stand up for what’s right,” she wrote.
See Swift’s tweets below.
