Why conservatives should embrace 'Lift Every Voice'

The 2023 NFL season opened on Thursday night at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, where the visiting Detroit Lions upset the reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs, 21-20.

As usual, "The Star-Spangled Banner" was sung immediately before kickoff. The performer was Natalie Grant, one of the most popular recording artists in contemporary Christian music. Grant has been named female vocalist of the year five times by the Gospel Music Association and is a nine-time Grammy nominee. Last month she released a duet with Dolly Parton, in which the two covered Whitney Houston's "Step by Step." Her rendition of the national anthem had the crowd cheering, especially when she pointed skyward at the line "Gave proof through the night / that our flag was still there."

Before Grant's star turn, however, the Kansas City Boys Choir and Kansas City Girls Choir joined in a performance of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the hymn often referred to as the Black national anthem. In 2020, the NFL authorized teams to feature the song at home openers ahead of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Though most fans listened courteously — some even sang along — there was an immediate outpouring of bitterness and snark by a minority who complained that the song was an exercise in racial divisiveness and accused football officials of including it in the pregame ceremonies for those who "love the idea of segregation." Kari Lake, the self-described "Trump candidate" who ran unsuccessfully for governor of Arizona in 2022, tweeted an image of herself sitting, along with a defiant message: "The NFL is still trying to force this divisive nonsense down America's throats. I won't stand for it. Literally." She and other MAGA conservatives had likewise fumed when "Lift Every Voice" was performed before the Super Bowl in February.

Intolerant political correctness is usually thought of as a left-wing phenomenon. But there is also knee-jerk right-wing political correctness and this is a good example.

It has never been clear to me why sporting events should be preceded by the national anthem. After all, we don't stand for "The Star-Spangled Banner" when we go to the theater or an amusement park. The song isn't played at church or in court, or when the National Christmas Tree is illuminated, or before the Academy Awards ceremony. The custom of including the national anthem began as a quirky idea to boost fans' spirits during the 1918 World Series. But once it became routine, it became devalued.

Many spectators talk or text right through it. Others treat it as a chance to stop at the concession stand or visit the bathroom. Worse still, the playing of the national anthem has been exploited in recent years by some on the field to stage political protests.

All the same, the custom of opening sporting events with the national anthem and other patriotic displays remains firmly entrenched. At Arrowhead Stadium last week, in addition to Grant's performance, there was a presentation of the colors by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office Honor Guard, plus a flyover of B-2 Stealth Bombers by squadrons out of nearby Whiteman Air Force Base. Whatever else might be said about the pregame events in Kansas City, they were replete with patriotic and martial symbolism.

Which makes the mean-spirited attacks on the kids singing "Lift Every Voice," some of whom were as young as 11, not only ugly but ridiculous. Nothing about their earnest performance was divisive, let alone unpatriotic. Nor was there any suggestion that it was intended for a Black audience alone — the song is a hymn of hope and faith in the American future, with no hint of racial animus.

The lyrics were written in 1899 by James Weldon Johnson, a Black educator, diplomat, and poet. They were set to music the following year by his younger brother, the composer J. Rosamond Johnson, for a celebration of Lincoln's birthday in Jacksonville, Fla. At its debut, "Lift Every Voice" was sung by a chorus of 500 children. "Within 20 years it was being sung over the South and in some other parts of the country," James Weldon Johnson later wrote. "The lines of this song repay me in an elation, almost of exquisite anguish, whenever I hear them sung by Negro children."

It was the NAACP that dubbed the song the "Black national anthem," but its words embody no hint of racial separatism or belligerence. On the contrary, the song expresses a message of uplift and optimism. And it is religious — a prayer for God's blessing and protection:

Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our G od,
True to our native land.

Former NFL cornerback Troy Vincent recalled in 2020 that singing "Lift Every Voice" was part of the morning ritual when he was a child attending Jefferson Elementary School in Trenton, N.J. "We sang along with it right before placing our hands over our hearts and pledging allegiance to the American flag," he wrote. So-called conservatives like Lake who rail against including the hymn in a public ceremony are either deeply ignorant — or deeply intolerant.

"Lift Every Voice" has been recorded countless times. Online, you can hear one rendition, beautiful and stately, sung by the choir of New York's Abyssinian Baptist Church in 2016.

Another, quite different but no less powerful, was performed by Kim Weston for the Motown label in 1968. Though it is usually taken at a measured pace, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in 2018 recorded a mighty uptempo version, backed by a full orchestra. The Kansas City boys and girls who sang before the Chiefs-Lions game last week had no accompaniment, but their music was full of heart, patriotism, devotion, and love. If anyone should appreciate those qualities, conservatives should.

"Lift Every Voice" has been recorded countless times. Online, you can hear one rendition, beautiful and stately, sung by the choir of New York's Abyssinian Baptist Church in 2016. Another, quite different but no less powerful, was performed by Kim Weston for the Motown label in 1968. Though it is usually taken at a measured pace, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in 2018 recorded a mighty uptempo version, backed by a full orchestra.

The Kansas City boys and girls who sang before the Chiefs-Lions game last week had no accompaniment, but their music was full of heart, patriotism, devotion, and love. If anyone should appreciate those qualities, conservatives should.

Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for The Boston Globe, from which this is reprinted with permission."