How the Prose Team is Spending Juneteenth

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Jun 18 2021,

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At Prose, we recognize Juneteenth as a national holiday and give our entire staff the day off. We encourage our employees across all of our offices, to celebrate and/or educate themselves about the holiday and Black cultures overall. Read on to find out how a few members of our DEI council will be spending their day of reflection.

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Sam Law, Director of UX Research

To be honest, I think the day can feel really heavy. So as an art history major and lover of all things music, I like to use the day for education, but also for immersion in cultural history, which I find really inspiring and uplifting.

There is a virtual tour of the Basquiat exhibit at the MFA Boston that I’ll be renting, which contextualizes Basquiat’s work in relation to the birth of hip-hop. It parallels his visual language with the verbal language of his musical contemporaries as a form of expression that defied racial divisions.

I’ll also be watching Summer of Soul, which has been on my list for a while. This is Questlove’s documentary (a mix of documentary, performance, and retrospective of culture and fashion) on the Harlem Cultural Festival.

Sheldon Wells, Production Supervisor

Juneteenth is an opportunity for me to reflect on how much we’ve accomplished and to celebrate the future success we will bring into this world. It’s refreshing that Prose gives me an opportunity to celebrate and express myself freely on this holiday. Their support shows me that I’m not just an employee, I’m family.

Megan Krebs, Employee Experience Manager

I’ve been reading Four Hundred Souls throughout June to course correct and broaden my understanding of African American history. It’s curated by Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to be an Antiracist, and historian Keisha N Blain. It’s incredibly captivating, completely digestible, and compels me to deeply examine and reassess the white narrative of American history I grew up with.

Rashi Birla, VP Brand & Creative

I’ll likely be spending the day finishing the book I started recently, The Vanishing Half, by Black American author Brit Bennett. Not only is it a page turner, but a really interesting story about two girls growing up in a Black community in the south and how their identity took them on different life paths. The book also explores the topics of colorism, identity, and how past and present intertwine.

Nicolas Mussat, Co-Founder & CTO

I’m planning on watching 13th which has been on my list for quite some time now. I’ll use that time to educate myself on the issue of targeted mass incarceration and its political and economical root causes.