Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield pays tribute to Dr. King on Martin Luther King Jr. Day

On the third Monday of January each year, Americans observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The day is observed around Dr King’s birthday, which is on the 15th of January. Ahead of the day, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield shared a touching note with Slack employees. In the note, Butterfield shares his thoughts on the importance of Martin Luther King Jr. He further tells Slack employees to take the day off. According to Bloomberg BNA Annual Survey, only 37% of employees in the US have a day off on Martin Luther King Jr Day.

Butterfield initially sent the memo to Slack employees. It was shared on Medium by Erica Baker, an engineer at Slack. Baker shared the note, with Butterfield’s permission, noting that it touched her and that she thinks “it’s an important message for everyone to read and absorb, not only Slack employees”

In the note, Butterfield writes that Slack employees should spend the day off reflecting, not only the importance and the role Dr King played in the liberation of black Americans but the role played by others.

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“Dr. King accomplished much individually, but it is fitting to think not only of him, but also of the millions of others, and of the movement which still goes on”, Butterfield writes, “Dr. King was unquestionably an important figure and his legacy is worthy of recognition and celebration. He is also part of an historical movement that has included people such as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks and Malcolm X.

Butterfield also mentions in the note that the Civil Rights Movement included less well known activists and that the fight continues today.

“It has also included thousands of other less well-known activists and champions, and millions of individual people across many decades and many generations. This movement continues to this very day in Ferguson and Cleveland and Baltimore and Chicago and all across the country”

Diversity is still a major problem in the technology industry. Every time tech companies release their diversity reports, the progress towards a more inclusive industry always appears far away. Progress is slowly being made with companies like Pinterest announcing its first ever Head of Diversity.

Read more: Apple donates $50m to increase diversity in the technology industry

Slack released its diversity report on 9 September 2015, in which it recorded its employees’ racial, ethnic, and LGBTQ identity. The report showed that about 70 % of Slack employees are “Non-Hispanic Caucasian”, 4 percent African-American, 19 percent Asian and 7 percent “Mixed-Race/Other.”

About 39% of Slack’s employees are women, with 18% of them in engineering roles and about 10.3 percent of Slack’s employees identify as being part of the LGBTQ community.

Giving employees time off on Martin Luther King Jr might be labelled as a cheap stunt by many but it could be indicative of Slack’s commitment to addressing diversity.