The “Black National Anthem” — “Lift Every Voice and Sing” — was played yet again during Super Bowl LVIII, as it has been before during the last few Super Bowls.
One big difference between this year’s edition and years past, however?
This year, the “Black National Anthem” didn’t get much applause.
In fact, the massive crowd in attendance at the biggest football game of the year didn’t react much at all.
.@AndraDayMusic performs Lift Every Voice and Sing before #SBLVIII! pic.twitter.com/gNRZ9XyibV
— NFL (@NFL) February 11, 2024
After the singer, Andra Day, finished singing, the above clip panned to a shot of fans in the stands.
Some are applauding for sure. But they aren’t very loud.
Many others aren’t applauding at all.
Are you watching the Super Bowl?
Some are looking at their phones while others are looking on awkwardly in silence.
It certainly wasn’t given the same applause as Reba McEntire’s rendition of the real national anthem. That’s for sure.
JUST IN: Reba McEntire performs the National Anthem at Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas.
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/zie1WXBsX3
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 11, 2024
When is the NFL going to get wise? There is only one national anthem.
As imperfect as our nation’s history may be, the same can be said of any nation.
The U.S. has provided more people with more freedoms than any nation before it, ever.
By celebrating one national anthem, we acknowledge that we all are still one people who continue to strive to bring the American dream to each and every individual.
By creating a bunch of additional anthems for each one of our races (why not have an Asian or Hispanic anthem next?), we are only causing more division.
Now, believe it or not, the actual song “Lift Every Voice and Sing” actually has some incredibly good, Christian-conservative values within it (read all about that here).
But that’s beside the point.
We all know why this song is being played before football games — because politically-minded hacks and activists think the original national anthem represents racism.
That’s just plain wrong.
It’s time for us to get back to having only one national anthem.
