Nike and NFL pledge to honor Juneteenth

Nike, the NFL and other businesses will give their employees a day off for Juneteenth for the first time this year, the latest example of how American employers are responding to protests that have placed additional attention on racial injustice in the U.S.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger came to Galveston, Texas, to announce the end of the Civil War and slavery.

Nike CEO John Donahoe told workers they would get Juneteenth off starting this year as a way to celebrate black culture and history. NFL Commissoner Roger Goodell, who last week said that the league was wrong to not listen to football players who have protested police brutality on the field since 2016, wrote in a note Friday that its offices would be closed June 19.

Colleges: The NCAA encouraged its 1,100 member colleges and universities to give athletes the day off from sports on election day, responding to grassroots movements of activism from players and coaches.

At schools all over the country, coaches and players have organized teamwide voter registration efforts, marches and rallies.

The NCAA did not mandate a day off for athletes on election day. Instead, it encouraged schools to assist students in registering to vote and to give them a day off from athletics to vote.

“We encourage students to continue to make their voices heard on these important issues, engage in community activism and exercise their Constitutional rights,” the NCAA said in a statement.

Soccer: English Premier League jerseys will feature “Black Lives Matter” instead of player names for the first 12 games after the competition resumes Wednesday.

“We, the players, stand together with the singular objective of eradicating racial prejudice wherever it exists, to bring about a global society of inclusion, respect, and equal opportunities for all, regardless of their colour or creed,” the squads said in a joint statement Friday.