What Doesn’t MAGA Know About the ‘Black National Anthem’? A Lot
Some people suspect that Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” camp is barely a step away from “Make America White Again.”
They found a lot of food for that thought in the MAGA world’s reaction to this year’s Super Bowl pregame show.
The show included Sheryl Lee Ralph of “Abbott Elementary” singing James Weldon Johnson’s 123-year-old hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” frequently called the “Black national anthem.” It’s a galvanizing song for the civil rights movement — and just about every other church or school where African Americans congregate.
Country music star Chris Stapleton beautifully performed “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the nation’s official anthem. Yet, that wasn’t enough for the predictable gaggle of MAGA detractors who apparently saw some sort of low-octane race war.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, tweeted: “America only has ONE NATIONAL ANTHEM. Why is the NFL trying to divide us by playing multiple!? Do football, not wokeness.”
Similarly, I was in rare agreement with Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene when she tweeted “Chris Stapleton just sang the most beautiful national anthem at the Super Bowl.” But not when she added, “we could have gone without the rest of the wokeness.”
Really? I am somewhat amused by the MAGA right’s embrace of “woke” as an insult word for liberals. Would they just as soon remain asleep? Dream on.
“There is only ONE National Anthem in the United States of America,” tweeted rising 20-year-old Black conservative commentator-activist CJ Pearson. “The National Anthem is for EVERY American. What’s the purpose of a black one? Super Bowl Sunday should UNITE America, not divide it by race. It’s not the 1960s.”
Well, the purpose of “the black one” has something to do with the value of knowing and understanding American history, but that’s a topic that unfortunately has become fashionable for some conservatives to ignore.
The official campaign Twitter account for Arizona’s defeated Republican nominee for governor, Kari Lake, let us know that “Our girl is against the idea of a ‘black National Anthem’ for the same reason she’s against a 'white National Anthem.' She subscribes to the idea of 'one Nation, under God.' ”
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