Musician Pharrel Williams is Calling for All Companies to Do This

Singer and music producer Pharrel Williams is urging for companies and legislators to make Juneteenth a paid holiday.

Juneteenth, or June 19, is a day to commemorate the end of slavery and was the day that the Union army general arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation.

Williams told CNBC on Monday that the movement is not to detract from the Fourth of July but to create a holiday “that is inclusive of everyone … For us, we feel like the day that we were freed, everyone was freed.”

“As Americans we love and we appreciate Independence Day, but when July 4, 1776, took place, the only ones that were free from the British monarchy were our white brothers,” Williams said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”

“The white sisters could not vote. The Native Americans, where we get this land from, they were not free, and certainly, the African Americans, women and men, we didn’t have our freedom.”

Williams is working with Global Citizen and consulting firm Teneo, along with Ellen DeGeneres, Kenya Barris, and Van Jones, to help galvanize companies and state governments to recognize Juneteenth as a paid holiday.

“For us, we feel like the day that we were freed, everyone was freed,” Williams said. “So why not make that a paid holiday? We deserve that, you know?”

Working with companies is an important part of the process, Williams said.

“We’re a nation, a country, but we operate like a company,” he said.

“The consumer base has buying power,” he said. “When you have buying power, you have a voice. That’s been the biggest voice for African Americans. We never really had a voice. We never really had any market share.”