Allie Young, CEO and founder of Atlanta-based entertainment and gaming venue Axis Replay, was organizing another gaming event when she first heard about Juneteenth.
"I will be completely transparent, I had no idea that Juneteenth even existed until a couple weeks ago," she said.
Since the coronavirus pandemic, Axis Replay has closed its doors to focus on online events. The space will reopen July 21 with a combined gamer and voter registration event.
While fleshing out another online event to benefit students and teachers at underserved schools, Young mentioned to her event partners she wanted to hold a virtual esports experience to promote social justice and change. One of the partners was excited about the idea and suggested hosting the event on Juneteenth.
"And I was like, 'What?' (They said,) 'You don’t know what Juneteenth is? I’m embarrassed to say I don’t. I started to do research on it and I realized what a beautiful holiday it is," she said.
Juneteenth is a holiday celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the final emancipation of slaves in the United States. The date coincides with the Union army general Gordon Granger's reading of federal orders in the city of Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, proclaiming that all enslaved persons in Texas were now free --- more than two and a half years after President Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Axis Replay had an event scheduled on June 19 for a celebrity Fortnite tournament, which quickly became part of a movement and symbol of action for the ecosystem. Young reached out to previous partners and event sponsors to see if they wanted to join the conversation for change. There are no sponsors or advertisers with the event, but companies ranging from Fortune 500s to startups committing to make a change can join the event.
"All these brands, who we work with day-in and day-out, they’re already committed, but this is basically a way to put your words where your mouth is and let’s actually take action," she said.
The event will include a history segment on Juneteenth, a discussion on reform and change, a talk on the importance of voting, a conversation on inclusion in gaming, a celebrity panel and end with a Fortnite Tournament.
"Everyone is for this and super excited," Young said. "This time has been spent reflecting and realizing and understanding the brokenness of it all. I’m really excited to be part of a solution."
Participants on the panels and discussions include major Atlanta influencers, such as the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Invest Atlanta and Todd Harris, the co-founder of Hi-Rez Studios and Skillshot Media. Big names like the Salvation Army, the American Cancer Society, WeWork and others are joining in.
"At the end of the day, real change is only going to happen when change happens across the board... We’ve got so much support behind it. There’s no sponsorship, there’s no donation. We want everyone to tune in and be educated, learn about the holiday and how people are committed to change, how these brands are committing to change," Young said. "It's a time for us to put our feet down on it."
Young encourages participants to join the event with an open mind. Everyone who's feeling the divisiveness of life now should attend the event, get educated and hear all sides of the story, she said.
"I literally woke up a couple weeks ago, when all this stuff was happening, I woke up in tears, just not knowing what to do, just feeling all of it," she said. "And as a female minority, especially in esports and gaming, there have been micro-transgressions throughout my journey and entire life. I've elbowed my way to the proverbial and literal table."
Knowing from her own experience how tough prejudice can be, Young said she began to think of ways she could be more inclusive, as well as putting a stop to prejudice and how to move forward.
"It’s been a pretty deep introspection that I personally have gone through and I’m still going through," she said. "I started researching everything I could about the Juneteenth holiday. I started seeking to better understand Black culture."
Inclusion and diversity cannot be an afterthought, Young said, but needs to start at the beginning. Part of the Juneteenth program will focus on education and access to technology.
Young said she has brainstormed how even internally as a business Axis Replay can make an impact, be more inclusive and encourage diversity. Young said she hires employees based on their skill, regardless of their sex, race, sexual orientation or gender. But during these hard conversations, she's realized that the opportunities to gain these skills and access to technology is widely disproportionate.
"When I think about the access that Black culture has to esports and gaming --- the digital divide --- if they don’t have access, what happens then?" she asked. "They just don’t (have) a chance. Those are the kinds of things we're talking about... where the issue is actually access to all of that. The same levels of education and opportunity are not there."
One aspect of the event will delve into personal experiences event members have had with discrimination and what the solutions are to fixing it. Young said they'll be asking deep questions of their participants.
"Discrimination happens throughout all of life," she said. "The empathy of what we’re trying to accomplish, and being able to see when that has happened to you and how you can relate to the guy next to you... It’s a time of deep reflection of what we can all do together. That’s what I’d love for people to do: to watch on the 19th, to hear what’s happening from different perspectives, what your action is going to be and being fucking human. At the end of the day, that’s what’s acceptable."
In terms of the audience, Young said there will be a list of ways they can get involved with making a difference by watching the event.
"Let's make it a national holiday," she said, of Juneteenth. "It’s Freedom Day. It’s amazing, I feel like it’s a perfect time to get everyone together and I needed to do something. This is what I’m good at. I’m just so humbled at the level of support from all our partners and really everyone across the nation. I have friends up in Canada even talking about it. It’s not just an Atlanta thing, it’s a worldwide thing and we need to share it."
Axis Replay's Juneteenth event will begin at 7 p.m. June 19 and end at midnight. Viewers can participate on Twitch.tv, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
