Award-winning R&B/Pop singer Usher is calling for the United States government to formally acknowledge Juneteeth. He wrote an op-ed article for the Washington Post under the headline: “Why it’s so important that Juneteenth become a national holiday.

“We could observe it, as many black Americans already do, by celebrating both our first step toward freedom as black people in America and also the many contributions to this land: the construction of Black Wall Street; the invention of jazz, rock n’ roll, hip-hop and R&B; and all the entrepreneurship and business brilliance, extraordinary cuisine, sports excellence, political power and global cultural influence black Americans have given the world,” wrote Usher.

“And rather than observing Juneteenth as we do other holidays, by taking it off, we can make it a day when black culture, black entrepreneurship, and black business get our support. A national Juneteenth observance can affirm that Black Lives Matter!”