Hey, everyone. Quick warning at the top. We have one tiny curse word in this episode.

It's right at the end. It'll fly right by.

Well, good afternoon, and thank you all for joining us today. I hope everybody had a...

Earlier this week, the governor of Virginia stepped behind a podium to make an announcement.

He was surrounded by black political colleagues.

Even the musician Farrell was there.

He's from Virginia Beach.

They all gathered together to talk about a new holiday, Northam was adding to the state's calendar, June 10th.

You see, every year as a nation, mark the Fourth of July, Independence Day,

celebrating our independence from English colonial rule. We celebrate this as a holiday. But that

freedom we celebrate did not include everyone.

The people Independence Day didn't include are black people, of course, who remained enslaved for years after the United States freed itself from Great Britain.

Juneteenth, that's short for June 19th, has long been observed as a day of Black liberation. But until this year,

most workers had to do that on their own time. The commemoration will start this Friday

with a paid day off for executive branch state employees. It isn't just Virginia revisiting Juneteenth this year. With protests about

racial justice filling the streets, the story of Juneteenth has become newly urgent. Companies

like Target, Nike, Postmates, they've all said they're going to give workers Friday off.

Full disclosure, Slate's done that too. But considering Virginia only stopped observing a holiday

commemorating Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson this year, considering the governor of this

state is known for a blackface controversy.

I couldn't stop thinking about what happened here.

It's also interesting because Virginia is, of course, the cap, you know, the seat of the

...