Mickey Guyton, a black female country artist, may not be on Joe Biden’s shortlist for the Supreme Court, but she is singing the national anthem at Super Bowl LVI Sunday night. And she seems to be under the impression she’s broken barriers by doing so.
“It’s Black History Month, and a black country singer gets to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl. Wow,” Guyton told The New York Post. “This is a huge moment for me. It’s a huge moment for black people. And I want to represent that in the best possible way that I can.”
Country star Mickey Guyton scores at national anthem at 2022 Super Bowl https://t.co/ybgoF7Bzsh pic.twitter.com/hUHOQag12A
— New York Post (@nypost) February 13, 2022
I have to admit that her statement confused me. Does she think she’s the first black artist to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl? That can’t be right. Heck, one of the most memorable performances of the anthem was Whitney Houston’s in 1991. I was nearly eleven years old, and I still remember watching that.
In fact, in my lifetime, there have been a lot of black performers of the national anthem at the Super Bowl:
- 1982: Diana Ross
- 1986: Wynton Marsalis (trumpet)
- 1990: Aaron Neville
- 1991: Whitney Houston
- 1996: Vanessa Williams
- 1997: Luther Vandross
- 2002: Mariah Carey
- 2004: Beyonce
- 2006: Aaron Neville and Aretha Franklin
- 2008: Jordin Sparks
- 2009: Jennifer Hudson
- 2013: Alicia Keys
- 2019: Gladys Knight
- 2021: Jazmine Sullivan (duet with Eric Church)
Further, every Super Bowl since 2002 has been played in February.
Related: Stupid or Dishonest? Schumer Falsely Claims Supreme Court Was All White Until 1981
So, what makes Mickey Guyton performing the anthem a huge moment for black people specifically? I don’t doubt it’s a huge moment for her. Guyton is the first black woman ever to receive a Grammy nomination for best solo country performance, and that is an accomplishment, but she is neither the first black person nor even black woman to perform the anthem at the Super Bowl, during Black History Month or not. Objectively speaking, she’s not shattering any glass ceilings or breaking any racial barriers. Heck, the first black country singer to perform the national anthem at the Super Bowl was Charley Pride in 1974. So, Guyton performing the anthem Sunday night isn’t a novelty.
But, apparently, Guyton thinks it is.
“I set my intentions with singing the national anthem. I was like, ‘OK, togetherness is what I really want,'” Guyton told The Post. “So, I felt the way that people would feel togetherness is if I had a choir, with people that I believe represent America. And, you know, I have everybody from my black queen to a redneck cowboy to a girl that has one leg in this choir. And that’s the America that I’m proud of — us all standing together. We all belong.”
Artists representing different races and genres have performed the national anthem at the Super Bowl for decades. It speaks to the nation’s diversity that all watch the biggest sporting event of the year, which we have done year after year. But the anthem is a moment for all Americans, not just one skin color, and I don’t see why Guyton felt the need to inject race into her performance by calling it “a huge moment for black people.”
Ideally, when Americans watch the game tonight, they won’t watch Guyton performing the anthem and see a black woman singing. When she sings the anthem, she represents all of us, and we should all see just a fellow American.
