News/Commentary

Black national anthem at Super Bowl draws strong reaction; ‘seems racist and divisive’

February 13, 2023 | | Print Article

The days when the Super Bowl was a unifying experience when all Americans regardless of race, class, color or creed could join together for the penultimate sporting event of the year may be a relic of the past with Sunday’s big game saturated by racial overtones thanks to the NFL.

Aside from the narrative of being a historic event, the first game pitting two black quarterbacks against each other for the Vince Lombardi Trophy, there was the soaring rendition of the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing” or as it is more widely known, the “Black National Anthem” which was performed prior to “The Star-Spangled Banner,” America’s REAL national anthem.

While the NFL slyly timed the alternate anthem prior to just before when most folks would tune in at 6:30 ET for the nationally televised broadcast, it generated much controversy anyway and the reaction of one prominent Republican, Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake who was in attendance at State Farm Stadium near Phoenix spoke volumes.

The song which was performed by Sheryl Lee Ralph, one of the stars in the ABC comedy series “Abbott Elementary” kicked off an event that race-obsessed USA Today sportswriter Mike Freeman gloated was the “Blackest, most woke Super Bowl ever.”

“We had the Black national anthem, Rihanna and two Black starting quarterbacks for the first time ever. This wasn’t the Super Bowl. This was Wakanda,” Freeman wrote in his postgame column, likening this year’s game to the fictional African black ethnostate depicted in the “Black Panther” Marvel Universe movie franchise.

On Twitter, the multiple anthems had many users throwing a flag over the league’s perceived divisiveness.

“America only has ONE NATIONAL ANTHEM,” wrote Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) prior to the game. “Why is the NFL trying to divide us by playing multiple!? Do football, not wokeness.”

“No other country on Earth is ridiculous enough to permit different racial groups to perform their own national anthems before major events,” tweeted conservative commentator Matt Walsh.

“The @NFL is going to play a black national anthem before the Super Bowl. Seems racist and divisive” said actor Kevin Sorbo.

“The “Black National Anthem” could be the single best example of corporate cowardice and shameless pandering in America history,” wrote radio host Gerry Callahan. “You have one national anthem or no national anthem. Roger Goodell is pathetic.”

“I grew up singing ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ during assembly in my all-black elementary school. We also sang the Star Spangled Banner and said the pledge. It’s a beautiful hymn, but I feel like it’s being used by people who think we need a new founding (1619), flag, and anthem,” said research fellow and The Blaze contributor Delano Squires.

Additional reactions to the dueling national anthems:

The game itself was chock full of more of the same “woke” propaganda including the racial slogans displayed in the end zones that have become intertwined with the NFL brand in recent years, first with the league’s tolerance for Colin Kaepernick and his fellow anthem kneelers and then put on steroids after Commissioner Roger Goodell bent the knee to Black Lives Matter while cities burned during the 2020 George Floyd riots, apologizing to the militant group in a message eerily resembling an ISIS hostage video.

Sadly, the league has joined most other American institutions in allowing itself to be hijacked by those with an agenda that depends on dividing and conquering.

As for the game, a thrilling 38-35 Kansas City Chiefs victory over the Philadelphia Eagles marred by more questionable officiating, it will likely be remembered by many for the NFL’s embrace of flagrant racial divisiveness when it could have better used the opportunity to promote unity to the massive television audience for its showcase event.

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Chris Donaldson
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