A Holiday or a Sales Pitch?

 So we have a new federal holiday--Juneteenth, celebrating the emancipation of slaves in Texas and, by extension, that of all black men and women. I have only one concern--that this holiday, like Columbus Day and Presidents Day, will simply become a reason for retailers to hold sales.

I think Juneteenth will, like those other two, be ignored by most businesses in terms of giving time off to employees. Government workers will get the holiday (in most cases, their contracts require they get time off for any official federal holiday), but private employers usually decide that only the "big" holidays--New Years, Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, and Christmas--are reasons to close up business (and retailers don't all do even those). Some give employees an option: "You can have Martin Luther King Day in January if you give up Veterans Day in November," for instance.

MLK Day has, at least, become known as a day for community service. With any luck, Juneteenth will achieve the same status.