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Employees Pushing Companies To Make Juneteenth A National Holiday

CHICAGO (CBS)-- Activists across the country are pushing to make Juneteenth a national holiday.

Kamaria Morris, from Chicago, wanted her company to not only recognize Juneteenth as a paid holiday this year, but every year.

"Every single organization and company in our country is under a microscope right now to make change," she said. "So, I would just say link up with the people at your job that are like-minded that agree with the causes you agree with and really take your demands to the higher ups."

Morris works at the Erikson Institute in downtown Chicago. The company reached out to employees and asked for action items and feedback on ways to move forward during unrest and racial tensions.

After several requests, the executive team decided to make Juneteenth a paid holiday.

Morris posted the victory on Twitter and it now has hundreds of thousands of responses.

"I've had probably a thousand people message me to tell me that after they saw the tweet, they put together their own e-mail and sent it to their CEO and they were able to get it pushed through at their job," she said.

Morris says she knows this is just one small step to acknowledging Black history, but she says it's an important one.

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