As a native and forever loyal Washingtonian, let me first congratulate the Kansas City Chiefs on their Superbowl victory. Living in Philadelphia for the past 17 years, going through car horns blaring until the early morning hours after the Eagles’ 2017 Superbowl win, a quiet night was welcomed. No fans chanting the Eagles fight song. No panting news anchors dressed in green suits and dresses touting the upcoming parade. Okay, I will admit it; seeing the Eagles go down to defeat was satisfying as a fan of the Washington football team since 1966. After hearing my Philly friends—for two weeks tell me the Eagles will only be one Lombardi behind Washington after yesterday’s game and failing to do so allows me to walk my neighborhood with a self-satisfied grin.
Of course, like many things that should bring pleasure and healthy competition, some lifted every voice and whined. Courting the worst of her political base, Rep. Lauren Boebert railed against singer/actor Sheryl Lee Ralph’s rendition of the song Lift Every Voice and Sing, long recognized as the black national anthem, especially for black people of my generation. The poem by James Weldon Johnson, written in 1900, was set to music by his brother John Rosamond Johnson and became one of the quintessential songs of the civil rights movement after the turn of the century. Boebert, whom I can guarantee knows nothing of the history of the song or poem and maybe not even the National Anthem—written by Francis Scott Key, jumped to make it a culture war issue(fundraising letter to follow).
Boebert tweeted, “America only has ONE NATIONAL ANTHEM. Why is the NFL trying to divide us by playing multiple!? Do football, not wokeness.” The league has publicly made an effort to recognize its diversity for the past few years and took the step to have the song performed live for the first time by one of America’s icons. I suspect the league tried to appease the Boebert(s) of the world by having another African American singer Babyface Edmonds perform America the Beautiful. For her part, Ms. Ralph wanted people to understand the history and significance of the song, saying, “I thank everybody for understanding it. Some never will, but some always will get it. God bless us all in unity.”
Yes, I am an American
As a third grader, I held my hand over my heart, recited the Pledge of Allegiance, and then sang the National Anthem before the start of class. It was not until fifth grade that I learned my ancestors were not free when the song was written. I was twelve when I understood a war had been fought to keep my great-grandmother’s grandfather in bondage. I was 13 when my Dashiki-clad afro-wearing English teacher Ms. Earline Whitaker showed her class a copy of all the verses of the National Anthem. The controversial final lines of the third stanza read:
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
There is a movement in this country that believes if we do not acknowledge it, it did not happen. I wonder if that would include the nation’s anthem. Maybe a line from Johnson’s poem would bring us closer “ring with the harmonies of liberty.”
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