Black National Anthem
In the past couple of weeks, I learned something new. There is a song many call “The Black National Anthem”. Lift Every Voice and Sing is a beautiful, “old church hymn” type of song, written in 1900 by James Weldon Johnson. Johnson was an early leader of the NAACP, an author, educator and lawyer from Jacksonville, Florida. Born in 1871, as a young adult he spent a life-altering summer teaching the children of former slaves in backwoods Georgia.
The NAACP adopted Lift Every Voice and Sing as their anthem in 1917. The first line of the song, like many church hymns, is the title:
Lift ev’ry voice and sing
‘Til earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty
The lyrics describe the trials of black people in the United States. It speaks of the past:
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered
Out from the gloomy past.
And sings of hope for the future:
‘Til now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
And faith in God that has carried them through:
God of our weary years
God of our silent tears
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
National Football League
This isn’t new; in fact, it’s one hundred and twenty years old. But for many white Americans, it’s new to them. That is another sign that there is an entire narrative of American history and culture that is “hidden” and ignored in their education. But since they didn’t know, it’s “new” and different. The song represents change in a time when there is a great deal of resistance in our nation.
In a relatively small reaction to the killing of George Floyd, the National Football League has announced that in the opening games, Lift Every Voice and Sing will be performed along with the Star Spangled Banner. This had produced an outcry in social media; a backlash from the same folks who demanded the Confederate Battle Flag be returned to NASCAR events.
America the Beautiful, another anthem of the United States, has been performed at football games for years, including at the 2020 Super Bowl. The Battle Hymn of the Republic, the unofficial anthem of the Union Army in the Civil War, has been altered to become the “fight song” for the University of Georgia football team. And at every high school and collegiate game, the crowd stands for the playing of that institution’s alma mater.
So it’s not like we don’t honor other songs besides the Star Spangled Banner at our sporting events. We do it all the time.
Black Players, White Audience
Sixty-eight percent of NFL players are black. It is an important point of contact between blacks players and white spectators in America. When San Francisco Quarterback Colin Kaepernick, a black man, kneeled during the Star Spangled Banner in 2016, it created a major crisis. Kaepernick was protesting the deaths of black men at the hands of the police, and doing it on one of the biggest stages in America. Stopping Kaepernick and other players from kneeling became a dramatic talking point for the Trump campaign.
At the end of the season, Kaepernick was out of the league. Despite his qualifications as a Super Bowl quality Quarterback, he was shut out. Clearly no NFL team was willing to face the criticism of hiring him.
With the death of George Floyd and the success of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, the NFL has apologized to its players for failing to recognize their legitimate concerns. But there has been no apology to Kaepernick. Instead, the League is looking for other ways to get “on the right side” of the issue.
Lift Every Voice and Sing is a small way for the institution of professional football to recognize the movement that is changing America, and the majority of their own players. The sad part of that is, it will cause some white Americans to miss the point, and turn away in anger. Like removing Confederate statues, banning the battle flag in NASCAR, and a single black man kneeling during the National Anthem, it is delivering another message they choose not to hear.
Lift Every Voice and Sing
Lift ev’ry voice and sing
‘Til earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning skies
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on ’til victory is won
Stony the road we trod
Bitter the chastening rod
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died
Yet with a steady beat
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered
Out from the gloomy past
‘Til now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast
God of our weary years
God of our silent tears
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light
Keep us forever in the path, we pray
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee
Shadowed beneath Thy hand
May we forever stand
True to our God
True to our native land
