Usher Drops Powerful Op-Ed to Make Juneteenth a National Holiday, Says He Wants It ‘My Way’

Cover: Kevin Winter/MTV1415 (Getty)

Amidst all the social takeovers and countless supportive memes for the Black community, one particular superstud stepped out of the stage spotlight and into the writer’s chair to pen a powerful op-ed for The Washington Post to advocate that Juneteenth become a national holiday. That superstud is none other than Usher (this is the point in the story where you stand up and yell “Yeah!” at the computer screen).

For the unaware or misinformed, Juneteenth (which happens to be today) is June 19th, the anniversary of the day the news of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached the last people of America who were still held in bondage in 1865. So basically Black Independence Day, if that helps.

But if you want brutal honesty, it shows how long it took good news to travel some 155 years ago, as the Emancipation Proclamation declaring the end of slavery was announced in January 1863, yet the last slaves weren’t given their salvation until mid-1865. That, dear folks, is what we refer to as a delayed fuse.

Usher popularized the idea when he wore a shirt onstage that said “July Fourth” and replaced America’s independence date with “Juneteenth.” As people celebrate Black lives and support the awareness of this lesser-known date, more so by far than in past years, word continues to spread with the help of Usher and other Black celebrities and celebrity supporters in hopes that the date with finally be recognized for what it is (and hopefully even someone as ignorant as our dear president would be smart enough not to hold a hate speech on this important date).

We think it’s time everyone join Usher in his cause (and then make some love in this club).

Now for some more good news…