Musician Taylor Swift has advocated for Juneteenth to become a national holiday.
Swift shared a video explaining why Juneteenth should be a national holiday on her personal Instagram account Thursday.
“I want to thank @the.root and @thedanielleyoung for allowing me to post this video about the significance of today, June 19th, and why it should be celebrated as a National holiday,” Swift captioned her post. “Personally, I’ve made the decision to give all of my employees June 19th 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.”
“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,” Swift continued. (RELATED: Taylor Swift Says Removing Statues Won’t Fix ‘Centuries Of Systemic Oppression,’ But It Might ‘Bring Us One Step Closer’)
Swift’s advocating comes after she spoke out regarding the removal of statues. As previously reported, Swift said the statues in Tennessee make her “sick” in a social media post Saturday.
“Taking down statues isn’t going to fix centuries of systemic oppression, violence and hatred that black people have had to endure but it might bring us one step closer to making ALL Tennesseans and visitors in our state feel safe-not just the white ones,” Swift said on social media.