The New National Anthem

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Media coverage was generally gleeful about the performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” — popularly called the “Black National Anthem” — at the Super Bowl. “Andra Day delivers powerful rendition of Black national anthem,” said NBC Bay Area. The United Business Journal called it “stirring.” One description was particularly flowery:

Day delivered an emotional iteration of the timeless song in the midst of Black History Month. The hymn, originally penned by James Weldon Johnson with music by his brother John Rosamund Johnson, reflects on the ongoing struggle for racial equality and imagines a liberated future for Black Americans. – Variety

What would a “liberated future for Black Americans” look like? Unfortunately, it probably doesn’t mean separation; they need us, which is why “black nationalism” is always a form of begging.

A new report from Nielsen found that blacks consume more media than any other group, which makes them ideal customers. Nielson also found that blacks want more “representation” in media. Giving them a national anthem and other flattery is therefore good marketing. The Black National Anthem is probably a permanent sports fixture.

Conservatives were troubled by two different anthems, but they don’t have the discipline to boycott companies that insult them. The NFL has been “woke” for several years but that hasn’t hurt it. Angry conservatives probably even help; they mean media coverage and sympathy from liberals. The black anthem was also partly bait.

“Black National Anthem Sends MAGA Into Meltdown,” said Newsweek. “Giuliani lashes out at Super Bowl for ‘insulting’ him with the Black National Anthem,” said Raw Story. “Megyn Kelly, the Woman Who Defended Blackface, Said Black National Anthem ‘Does Not Belong At Super Bowl,” said the The Root, and the Huffington Post slapped her around. USA Today, the most widely circulated newspaper in the country, dismissed opposition to the song as a “made up problem” from the “right wing.”

Andra Day during the pre-game ceremony ahead of Super Bowl LVIII. (Credit Image: © PA Wire via ZUMA Press)

Conservatives missed the point, complaining that having two anthems was “separatist” and an insult to the civil rights movement. They don’t realize that “civil rights” is not about integration but taking wealth and power from whites. For example, Rep. Mike Loychik (R-OH) said, “we are all AMERICANS, united by our great and beautiful Star Spangled Banner.” How many blacks agree? Andra Day says she stopped singing the national anthem because she wanted to do “Lift Every Voice And Sing.” Fine. What does she care about traditional American identity?

You could ask Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), a congressman who represents Memphis, Tennessee, the same question. “Very very few stood for ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’ he said on X. “The Negro National Anthem. Not a pretty picture Super Bowl crowd.” He claims he respects the Star-Spangled Banner “as representing our country and in our pride in it” but also said “it does relate to slavery and not in a questioning manner.” Plenty of people say it’s racist.

White conservatives persist in claiming that race doesn’t matter, but it does to blacks; race means more to them than being “American.” Why should blacks respect Founders who built a country explicitly for whites? American Indians didn’t get citizenship until 1924.

White advocates should support a Black National Anthem. If blacks are a nation, that means they are not Americans. A white nationalist might call for a White National Anthem. The Star-Spangled Banner is the anthem of a state that belongs to everyone and no one.

Whites who don’t understand race don’t understand anything. The Star-Spangled Banner probably will be replaced, and the we’re-all-Americans conservatives — almost exclusively white — won’t understand why. America is turning into a different country with a different purpose. The new version of America begins with black slavery (“the 1619 Project”), and America gained independence only with black emancipation. It began its true mission only with the Civil Rights Movement. The old America celebrated freedom from Great Britain; the new America celebrates freedom from genocidal, slave-driving whites. Old Americans were Pilgrims, Minutemen, and cowboys. New Americans are “enslaved persons,” Indians, and immigrants.

In 2021, Congress declared “Juneteenth National Independence Day,” a rival and perhaps eventual replacement for the Fourth of July. Similarly, Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), probably the person most responsible for making Joe Biden the Democratic nominee in 2020, wants to make “Lift Every Voice and Sing” the “National Hymn.” On what grounds would conservatives oppose that, if their only objection is that they don’t want to be racially divided? Are they going to defend slaveholders such as Francis Scott Key?

Whites must recognize that only they care about the anthem, traditional holidays, the Founders, and the flag. Those symbols are holding through sheer inertia, and are being supplanted before our eyes. Whites better decide whether they want submission or a separate existence. South Africa and Zimbabwe show us what we can expect.