Black National Anthem

[Aldebaran]

As I said, it got that appellation back before white people let us sing The Star-Spangled Banner in the same room with them.

Well, now they can sing it alongside white people each and every day. The segregation is over. Isn't that what you wanted? Or are you inclined to go along with those who want it to replace our actual national anthem?

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., wants a song about faith and resilience long revered in the Black community to become the national hymn and help unite the country after centuries of racial turmoil.

Clyburn, the House majority whip, plans to introduce a measure as early as this week that would make “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” known as the Black national anthem, the national hymn and give it a special place alongside the country’s anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner."

“To make it a national hymn, I think, would be an act of bringing the country together. It would say to people, ‘You aren’t singing a separate national anthem, you are singing the country’s national hymn,’” said Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black American in Congress. “The gesture itself would be an act of healing. Everybody can identify with that song.”
Black national anthem: Rep. Clyburn pushes song for the national hymn

 

[RDKirk]

Well, now they can sing it alongside white people each and every day. The segregation is over. Isn't that what you wanted? Or are you inclined to go along with those who want it to replace our actual national anthem?

It was never intended by anyone in all those years to "replace" The Star-Spangled Banner.

You're trying really, really hard to twist yourself into a tizzy over a 100-year-old song that has zero impact on your life.

 

[Aldebaran]

It was never intended by anyone in all those years to "replace" The Star-Spangled Banner.

You're trying really, really hard to twist yourself into a tizzy over a 100-year-old song that has zero impact on your life.

That article I posted is from this year. Try reading it.

 

[RDKirk]

That article I posted is from this year. Try reading it.

I think you did not read it.

Clyburn, the House majority whip, plans to introduce a measure as early as this week that would make “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” known as the Black national anthem, the national hymn and give it a special place alongside the country’s anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner."

“To make it a national hymn, I think, would be an act of bringing the country together. It would say to people, ‘You aren’t singing a separate national anthem, you are singing the country’s national hymn,’” said Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black American in Congress.

 

[iluvatar5150]

No, it's not obviously a Christian hymn. It's first and foremost a thanksgiving hymn sung from the perspective of black Americans who had escaped slavery. Both Johnson brothers were civil rights activists, such as working to get the Dyer Anti-lynching Bill passed. The song is not from just any Christian's perspective. Once that fact is duly appreciated, then perhaps it can be considered a generically "Christian hymn."

I'll be honest, I like it better than our current anthem. More than that, there is no better representative of the ideal American than the black American. With every possible obstacle in their way, they have made their own way even as the odds against them shamefully persist. There is no greater American than the black American.

There’s a case to be made that many of the elements of American culture most uniquely “American” came out of black communities: bbq, jazz, hip hop. Whereas other popular American cultural elements like baseball, football, country music, burgers, and other cuisine have more direct lineages to European culture.

Basketball is sort of in the middle, in that it didn’t originate in the black community but it did integrate earlier than some other sports and it’s popularity within the black community was a big part of its success.

Making it the national anthem on par with the real one, just as I keep telling you. Then we'd have a national anthem for the black people, and another for the white people, which hardly looks like unity.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., wants a song about faith and resilience long revered in the Black community to become the national hymn and help unite the country after centuries of racial turmoil.

Clyburn, the House majority whip, plans to introduce a measure as early as this week that would make “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” known as the Black national anthem, the national hymn and give it a special place alongside the country’s anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner."

“To make it a national hymn, I think, would be an act of bringing the country together. It would say to people, ‘You aren’t singing a separate national anthem, you are singing the country’s national hymn,’” said Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black American in Congress. “The gesture itself would be an act of healing. Everybody can identify with that song.”
Black national anthem: Rep. Clyburn pushes song for the national hymn

Nowhere in there does he say that he wants this to be a “national anthem for black people.”

 

[Paradox.79]

The "black national anthem" is obviously a Christian hymn. Is the "woke" left removing any references to God when they promote it? Aren't these the same people who wanted "under God" removed from the pledge?



It's because I care about black heritage, especially the heritage of black Christians, that I don't want the left appropriating the song.

Black Americans: Most Religious Ethnic Group

I want a native american anthem them

 

[iluvatar5150]

I want a native american anthem them

I love listening to NA chants, but IME most of us white folk are too uptight to pull that off.

 

[RDKirk]

What is the Black National Anthem? Step in the name of love?

Seriously though. No black person under the age of 75 actually sings or knows the lyrics to this supposed Black National Anthem.

I am. i have. I do.

 

[RDKirk]

No black people sing this song. Maybe one time during their entire life at Thanksgiving dinner when the 80 year old auntie pulls the dust cover off of the piano, and nobody knows the lyrics so they just fake it because they don't want to disappoint her and she's too deaf to know what they are reciting jibberish instead of the lyrics to the song, or when some bougie chick wants to get on TV and reaffirm that her black card is still activated by singing it for no good reason.

It may actually be true that no black Catholics sing it, but it's a staple in many black protestant churches.

 

[RDKirk]

Making it the national anthem on par with the real one, just as I keep telling you. Then we'd have a national anthem for the black people, and another for the white people, which hardly looks like unity.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., wants a song about faith and resilience long revered in the Black community to become the national hymn and help unite the country after centuries of racial turmoil.

Clyburn, the House majority whip, plans to introduce a measure as early as this week that would make “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” known as the Black national anthem, the national hymn and give it a special place alongside the country’s anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner."

“To make it a national hymn, I think, would be an act of bringing the country together. It would say to people, ‘You aren’t singing a separate national anthem, you are singing the country’s national hymn,’” said Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black American in Congress. “The gesture itself would be an act of healing. Everybody can identify with that song.”
Black national anthem: Rep. Clyburn pushes song for the national hymn

How is it that you quoted something you didn't even read?

 

[RDKirk]

No, it's not obviously a Christian hymn. It's first and foremost a thanksgiving hymn sung from the perspective of black Americans who had escaped slavery.

What make's it not a Christian hymn just because it's not from every Christian's perspective? If a Christian writes a thanksgiving hymn about having been saved from cancer, that doesn't mean it's not a Christian hymn.

 

[Aldebaran]

Nowhere in there does he say that he wants this to be a “national anthem for black people.”

And yet it's called the "Black National Anthem".
Is it called that because it's for white people? 'Black national anthem' to be played before all NFL games. Good.

If it's for all Americans, then the word "black" doesn't need to be inserted in the beginning to differentiate it from what we already have, which is simply The national anthem.

 

[iluvatar5150]

And yet it's called the "Black National Anthem".
Is it called that because it's for white people? 'Black national anthem' to be played before all NFL games. Good.

No, because as was the case for many “black” variants, the regular version wasn’t as inclusive of blacks as the race-neutral name suggested.

If it's for all Americans, then the word "black" doesn't need to be inserted in the beginning to differentiate it from what we already have, which is simply The national anthem.

Clyburn wasn’t promoting the describing of it as a “black” anything. He was promoting the elevation of something that already had a “black” descriptor to a status that transcended that racialized moniker. In effect, he was trying to do exactly what you wanted. You just can’t see past the propaganda that your right-wing racist agitators want to feed you.

 

[Aldebaran]

No, because as was the case for many “black” variants, the regular version wasn’t as inclusive of blacks as the race-neutral name suggested.

How does the current NA "exclude" blacks? In fact, I don't see any mention of race or color in it except for maybe "the rocket's red glare".

 

[iluvatar5150]

How does the current NA "exclude" blacks? In fact, I don't see any mention of race or color in it except for maybe "the rocket's red glare".

The “hirelings and slaves” referenced in the third stanza were hired mercenaries employed by the British and escaped slaves they’d enticed into fighting against America. Key was gloating over their deaths.

Aside from that, the nation represented by the anthem has, for the majority of its existence, made quite clear to blacks that they don’t belong here, that they aren’t full citizens. It’s hard to expect blacks to feel represented by an anthem for a group that explicitly excluded them.

 

[Aldebaran]

Aside from that, the nation represented by the anthem has, for the majority of its existence, made quite clear to blacks that they don’t belong here, that they aren’t full citizens. It’s hard to expect blacks to feel represented by an anthem for a group that explicitly excluded them.

I didn't ask about the nation. I asked about how the national anthem excluded blacks.
If you're going to divert attention to "the nation", then justification starts being made about how anything American at all is somehow "anti-black".

 

[iluvatar5150]

I didn't ask about the nation. I asked about how the national anthem excluded blacks.

I addressed that point in the first half of my post.

If you're going to divert attention to "the nation", then justification starts being made about how anything American at all is somehow "anti-black".

Now you’re starting to get why there’s less uptake of rah-rah patriotism among the black community.

 

[RDKirk]

And yet it's called the "Black National Anthem".
Is it called that because it's for white people? 'Black national anthem' to be played before all NFL games. Good.

If it's for all Americans, then the word "black" doesn't need to be inserted in the beginning to differentiate it from what we already have, which is simply The national anthem.

"Black" is not inserted into the lyrics of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," or into its title, or any part of it, nor is anyone proposing that it replace "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the national anthem. You are gaslighting the issue.

 

[Aldebaran]

"Black" is not inserted into the lyrics of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," or into its title, or any part of it, nor is anyone proposing that it replace "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the national anthem. You are gaslighting the issue.

No, it's just "what it's called".

The Black National Anthem •

NFL to play Black national anthem at all league games in 2021

But we're supposed to pretend otherwise?

 

[RDKirk]

No, it's just "what it's called".

The Black National Anthem •

NFL to play Black national anthem at all league games in 2021

But we're supposed to pretend otherwise?

"What it's called" doesn't mean anything substantial. Nobody is proposing that it replace The Star-Spangled Banner" as the official national anthem, so you're still gaslighting the issue.