Usher Raymond wants all of America to celebrate Juneteenth as a national holiday, and not just for the culture but for the economic impact and the “many contributions” Blacks have made to this country.

As he writes in the Post:

Recognizing Juneteenth as a national holiday would be a small gesture compared with the greater social needs of black people in America.

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 RB; and all the entrepreneurship and business brilliance, extraordinary cuisine, sports excellence, political power and global cultural influence black Americans have given the world.

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!