Usher Raymond has had a difficult summer, with the tragic death of his 11-year-old stepson Kile Glover and the bitter divorce from wife Tameka Foster. But the R&B star still managed to take time to make a public service announcement on behalf of OurTime.org, an online publication that seeks to give a voice to youth.
The goal of the site is to consolidate the purchasing power of young people to get politicians and businesses to take notice and provide better representation.
In the video on the organization’s website, the “Climax” singer sent out a powerful message to young people:
“This is when your voice would matter. This is the time that you should engage. This is the time when you can make a difference.”
Usher candidly offered his feelings on the power of pooling together efforts to effect change, not letting someone decide for you and, probably most profoundly, saying to the youth that if they don’t do anything, nothing will happen.
On a more personal note, Usher was all over the news last week when his interview aired on “Oprah’s Next Chapter.”
According to Raymond, he and Tameka Foster started out as friends after the divorce proceedings began but it was Foster who ruined the friendship.
“I really felt like we were friends. She made us enemies in a way that I could never understand,” he told Oprah. The crooner also noted that this interview would be the first and last time he would talk about his custody battle because he wants to teach his sons a very important lesson.
“This will be the only time that I’ve ever chosen to speak about it,” he continued. “I’ve been a man of integrity throughout the entire process, which I hope my boys will understand. That’s the way to go. That’s the way to be.”
Raymond also addressed other rumors, including the idea that his marriage wasn’t real and his mother’s disapproval of the union. “There were a ton of people who believed in the marriage and there were a ton of people who didn’t,” he said. “Of course it hurt me. You know…this is supposed to be the person that I feel I’m going to share the rest of my life with and nobody is responding the way that I’d like them to respond.”
