The NFL is adding a new anthem in front of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” As a part of Commissioner Roger Goodell’s ongoing “wokening,” they are adding “Lift Every Voice” before the national anthem. This song is traditionally known as the black anthem and will play at every opening game.
To be honest, at this point, I don’t care what the NFL does. I watch sports to relax and watching a bunch of grown men who make millions of dollars complain about oppression is not relaxing. Neither is seeing that, as a nation, we can’t agree on some fundamental symbols and ideals.
It was Drew Brees’ apology tour that sealed the deal. To be a professional athlete and have no spine is unfortunate. I get that it was likely a move his PR folks convinced him to make. However, it seems to betray the Saints quarterback’s fundamental beliefs. Now he is just another frog in the lukewarm pot.
Goodell has embraced ex-quarterback Colin Kaepernick as his minister in the Church of Woke™. Now he is encouraging a team to sign Kaepernick as well. I guess Goodell forgot Kaepernick was a benched, mediocre player before his publicity stunt. Maybe he also forgot the ex-49er was given a tryout last fall and decided to conduct a media circus instead. Kaepernick’s stunt even ticked Jay-Z off.
However, I am pretty sure the new anthem is not what the Church of Woke™ is looking for. Here is the backstory of the song according to CNN:
How the song came about: The song was written in 1899 by James Weldon Johnson, who had been tasked with delivering an address to celebrate President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday the following year. He began prepping for it, but as he writes in his autobiography, “I wanted something else also.”
He took his words to his younger brother, a classically trained composer named J. Rosamond Johnson, and “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” (as it is accurately titled) was born.
For Johnson, writing the lyrics was an emotional experience. “I could not keep back the tears, and made no effort to do so,” he wrote.
If I am not mistaken, the Church of Woke™ is trying to topple statues of President Lincoln. This anthem was written in celebration of him and initially performed as such. Additionally, James Weldon Johnson served as U.S. consul in Venezuela and Nicaragua under President Teddy Roosevelt—another face they are trying to erase from history.
Next, there is a lot of God in this anthem. While the Church of Woke™ has every other feature of religion, it lacks a diety. It holds to nothing outside itself and has faith only in its ability to perfect fellow travelers through systematic rituals and shaming. They only lift their voices in anger and rage, not joy.
God of our weary years
God of our silent tears
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light
Keep us forever in the path, we pray
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee
Shadowed beneath Thy hand
May we forever stand
True to our God
True to our native land
Finally, the anthem song has consistent references to liberty and freedom. These are utterly antithetical to the Church of Woke’s collectivist values. Whether it is Black Lives Matter, Justice Democrats, or the Sunrise Movement, their goals are explicitly Marxist, based on redistribution and limiting the freedom of others. They call each other comrade the way Christians call each other brother and sister.
I can see how this song fits the vision of the Civil Rights Movement of the ’50s and ’60s. I can hear the principles of freedom, equal opportunity, and faith articulated to this day from movement leaders such as Bob Woodson. I can also see why the NAACP adopted the anthem. Their first black leader penned it.
I can’t see how it has anything to do with the Black Lives Matter movement or their comrades in the Church of Woke™. Beautifully sung in hymnal tones all over YouTube, it sounds absolutely nothing like their rage infused rhetoric. But much like black squares, forced confessions, and compulsory kneeling, it is a gesture to prove Goodell’s virtue. All while the irony is evident to anyone paying attention.
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