Warriors observe Juneteenth in Bay Area events

The Warriors will observe Juneteenth on Friday by encouraging staffers to participate in activities that promote racial justice, the team announced Thursday.

“Celebrating Black history and culture, and our ongoing allyship in the fight to end systemic racism, is the most important work we will do as citizens of our communities,” Warriors president and chief operating officer Rick Welts said in a news release. “I am honored to join all of our Warriors team members in being active in the community on Juneteenth to take another step toward equality.”

Juneteenth is an unofficial American holiday, and an official Texas state holiday, on June 19 that commemorates Union army general Gordon Granger’s reading of federal orders in the city of Galveston, on June 19, 1865, proclaiming all slaves in Texas free. With protests sweeping the country against racial injustice and police brutality, Juneteenth has taken on more national significance.

On Friday, Warriors employees will participate in a number of activities that are part of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, including attending music festivals, repainting murals and joining organized marches. Golden State is also providing to staffers educational resources such as podcasts, videos and books about black history and the black experience.

In coming days, the Warriors plan to announce what they call a “robust, strategic racial justice action plan.”

This comes after a host of prominent Golden State members, including Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr, have been vocal about racial injustice in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis on Memorial Day. Forward Juan ToscanoAnderson recently organized two protests against police brutality, with about a half dozen teammates attending at least one of them.