BlogHer - Barack Obama - Comments

A bold choice that begs the question of patriotism...

Atena — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:17:14 -0500

Interesting that so many people are apparently up-at-arms because she veered away from "what she was hired to do." I don't see that any harm was done and I admire her action.

I don't know if this was the best forum for her to make her statement or not, but I'm not certainly willing to dismiss it just because she didn't do what she was hired to do. But maybe such an impulse makes sense to me because I'm an artist with an affinity for political art.

I wonder how many people would've paid much attention at all if she'd sang the song as intended. How many people would have thought twice about what the words that she replaced actually mean?

To me, this brings up questions of patriotism and purpose. What is the point of the Star Spangled Banner, anyway? Are people inspired by the lyrics (an account of battle), or is it really the melody that captures them? Along those lines, I find it to be a savvy and timely reapproriation of material - a melody that commands the attention and respect of the nation coupled with lyrics that actually describe the ideals of the nation more poingantly (I think) than a surviving flag metaphor battle song (which is admittedly powerful). What does it mean to honor the format, meaning and history of one song over the other? What are we as a nation so attached to? To me these questions are more important than one more performance of the designated national anthem.

The words of Lift E'vry Voice and Sing do no less to honor the state or its citizens than the Star Spangled Banner - it is no less patriotic. I don't think any harm was done there. It was a violation of expectation to be sure, but it appears to me that she has done more good than harm by catalyzing this conversation. Art shouldn't be about try to be provacative while sitting inside a clearly defined box of pre-determined "appropriate" boundaries. Of fcourse boundaries are important and necessary, but in this case - I don't see any harm done. If I had to choose between a forum of expression such as the State of the City and self-publishing on YouTube, I'd pick the former (esp. since in the end, she ended up with both). At least, I'd like to think I would. If I didn't choose it, as an artist, I think I might regret it.

I think her performance had a lot of value.

Assumptions, Biases & Irrational Fantasies

True enough

Adriennevh — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:36:10 -0500

True enough. But again she was hired to do one thing and then did another. That's not a protest it's a bad business practice.

Lucky indeed

Maria Niles — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:49:07 -0500

That's sounds like a wonderful perspective, experience and education your mother provided you. And, I'd encourage you to read Rene Marie's explanation of her choices linked above but I don't know that it would lessen your confusion about those choices. :)

Thanks for sharing your perspective!

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Timing is everything

Maria Niles — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:45:50 -0500

She had performed her version of the song at previous events and says that it is an artistic statement. However, by performing it at a government event it gives it the appearance of being a political protest. But she says that she was not protesting anything specific. So the timing and location of her performance led to an interpretation that it was an empty political statement.

I think it has turned into an example of the law of unintended consequences. But among those UC's are the thoughtful dialogue (along with the knee jerk noise) it has generated and the opportunity to learn more about our history.

Thanks for adding to the discussion here, Pamela!

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I guess I'm lucky! And confused.

BaltimoreGal — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:15:39 -0500

I did know the song (although not all the lyrics) and that it was important to the civil rights movement. My mother was raised in SW Georgia during the end of segregation- she lived down the road from Koinonia, the precursor to Habitat for Humanity, which was an interracial community often attacked. These events shaped her childhood and early adulthood very strongly, so I was taught from an early age about the civil rights movement and to not accept racial discrimination or hatred in any form.

So. I guess if I had heard Renee Marie had sung "Lift Ev'ry Voice", in it's regular melody, instead of the Star Spangled Banner- I would have thought, OK, she was making a statement. And I'm no "Star Spangled Banner" lover, even being from Baltimore and an Army Brat. I just don't get her message. She fit "Lift Ev'ry Voice" to the "Star Spangled Banner" which was fit to a British drinking song. And Dixie? Well, better she sing it than some people, I guess. But I guess I don't get why she would sing it.

Timing is Everything

pamlyn — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:01:00 -0500

First, Kudos to Maria for sharing this post as well as to everyone who has thoughtlully and eloquently shared their thoughts.

The feedback that this incident has solicited has been amazing.

My first impressions of the incident were:

1. Renee Marie forget the lyrics to the National Anthem and after beginning "Lift Every Voice and Sing' just kept going. I've seen other singers confuse "God Bless America" with "The Star Spangled Banner".

2. She picked the wrong time and place to make either an artistic or social/political statement.

After reading Virginia Debolt's comment on how Renee has been known to sing Dixie at her concerts, I'm leaning to the latter assessment.

However, timing and location are everything. To sing "Lift Every Voice & Sing" as the National Anthem in a concert setting is an artistic statement. To substitute one song for the other at a political rally is an obvious political statement. But to intentionally substitute "Lift Every Voice & Sing" after being contracted to sing "The Star Spangled Banner" at a city's public event is a questionable call at best and playing into racial anxieties at worst.

As far as Barack Obama being asked to comment on Ms. Marie's decision, it's expected in our current political climate but obviously a little silly. Maybe one day our society will reach a point when every Black person is not accountable for the individual choices of every other.

Pamela Lyn

No apologies necessary

Maria Niles — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:37:50 -0500

This is a great conversation and I appreciate the different directions and added dimension you and Nordette have brought. Thanks to all who have commented. I can't tell you how much this discussion has meant because I was seriously upset reading many of the blog posts about this issues. BlogHer community to the rescue :)

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"Protest" is all about not toeing the line...

Yvette Perry — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:31:04 -0500

when you are on someone else time and/or dime, you do what they expect of you

To borrow an old saying: "Women who make history rarely go around doing what is expected of them." :-)

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Furious.

Rita Arens — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:27:43 -0500

I just hopped over and read Leslie's post. I realize this conversation is now veering from The Star-Spangled Banner, and I apologize, Maria, but I think it's a good conversation.

Silly me, I assumed students were now reading Langston Hughes and Malcolm X. I hoped things have changed.

Seriously, is it not 2008? Afrocentric? Seriously? It's the melting pot, for God's sake. We should be presenting the history of every group that lives in America, not just Europeans. Whites won't even be the majority in this country soon if population rates stay on the same trajectory they are now.

When are we going to wise up?

Surrender, Dorothy - When I was your age, we just let them ride in the back window.

Rita Arens is a contributing editor for BlogHer -- Mommy & Family.

you bet

Adriennevh — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:57:48 -0500

I look forward to a hug I hope my flag pin doesn't poke you! LOL.

I enjoy performance art and punk rock. Please tell me you never let the flag touch the ground!

I do have to stick with the opinion that she was hired to do a job and she didn't do it. She can protest on her own time, that is her inalienable right, but when you are on someone else time and/or dime, you do what they expect of you.

Dangerous thinking, Rita

Nordette — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:54:25 -0500

Rita, did you read Leslie's post about the teacher in California who was fired because her teaching was considered too afrocentric? It relates directly to your wondering what's being taught. She had students reading, per Leslie, "excerpts from Malcolm X, a book approved for use by the LA Unifed School District, having her students read the poetry of Langston Hughes, and quoting the late rapper Tupac Shakur."

Egads! What was she thinking? :-)

If anyone doesn't recognize the name Langston Hughes, then you may when I tell you that he's the Harlem Renaissance poet who wrote the famous poem "A Dream Deferred." Loraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun takes its title and some inspiration from that poem.

A Dream Deferred

By Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over--

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

I think the administrator there is a nutcase moving backward through time who went overboard based on misinformation about afrocentrism, but that's just me.

Leslie's post is "Why should the high school classroom be Eurocentric?"

Nordette is a Contributing Editor with BlogHer.com whose personal blog is hosted on another site at this link.

America the Beautiful as national anthem

Nordette — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:31:52 -0500

I agree on not changing the anthem to "Battle Hymn of The Republic" and for the reason you stated. I said something similar about people who want to change the anthem to "America the Beautiful." That would open an entirely new can of worms because it's a religious song.

I didn't think your thing about people being disrespectful during the singing of the national anthem was in reference to "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing." I was talking about respecting why some African Americans call the song a "black" national anthem and understanding how it came to be called that.

I'll be glad when we move past that, and I wonder if the singer thought she was implying that we're moving past it and can blend as one people. However, I think she went about it poorly. We only have one national anthem, and that's the one she was expected to sing. She also showed insensitivity to the mood of the nation and even Obama's special challenge of having to prove he's a "true patriot."

Still, one person said the singer's "artistic statement" is what's causing this discussion, and perhaps that's a good thing. (Looking for the silver lining)

BTW, I also think people should show respect during the singing of the anthem. Traditions can also unify.

Nordette is a Contributing Editor with BlogHer.com whose personal blog is hosted on another site at this link.

Thank you, Adrienne

Maria Niles — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:00:32 -0500

Thank you so much for adding your voice to this discussion.

You are absolutely right that detractors are claiming that once Obama is in office he's going to do things like change the national anthem. And yes they are twisting this incident to illustrate their fears and distaste for Obama even though it has nothing to do with him. It's simply convenient.
Lift Ev'ry Voice is not referred to as the Black National Anthem because it is considered to represent a separate nation - though I understand how that reference creates that implication. It is a reference that came from newly freed slaves (originally referred to as the "Negro" national anthem) as a source of pride, faith and optimism. Certainly it is understandable that black Americans at that time might hear a song written by a racist slave owner at a time when they were not considered human beings nor treated as citizens and might not feel that The Star Spangled Banner represented a beloved symbol and that singing it would not fill them with patriotic pride. And that is not to say that I think pride in the song, the flag or any other symbol of this country is somehow racist.

I absolutely respect your patriotism and your desire for respect for the symbols of our nation. And yes people behaving poorly such as talking through the singing of the anthem gets on my nerves because it messes with my prim and proper sense of decorum and appropriate public behavior (and then I have an internal war with my anarchist, punk rock side) but I hope that we can understand and respect those who don't engage in blind patriotism and who may not share or express patriotism in the same way as either of us might.

And I hope you'll still let me give you a big hug at BlogHer even though you might be appalled at my history of engaging in performance art and what might seem to be a lack of respect for some of the symbols of patriotism. :)

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What is being taught today?

Rita Arens — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:59:28 -0500

Hoping an educator can weigh in.

I agree with what Nordette wrote here:

I doubt that we will heal anytime soon, however, if people gloss over
history and behave as though black people exist in America via some
type of ahistoric vacuum.

I felt that what I was taught was "oh, some bad stuff happened, but that was a long time ago and everyone thought it was normal then." I can't picture my high school textbook very well, but I don't remember being properly horrified until much later, doing my own reading. Reading about families being torn apart, men and women being humiliated and beaten for no apparent reason, being shackled in boats and sold in public auction. Unless we face that, we can't face our human capacity for misery and for the love of power. We as a human race are capable of horrible acts. We have to be aware of that in order to keep our leaders and even our own behavior in check. Power does strange things to some people, and this is important to realize. Our country has checks and balances for a reason, and even we let things go too far because a powerful group of people wanted things a certain way a long time ago. And that way was so wrong it will take us generations to heal.

I don't remember really understanding how black Americans were treated under slavery, and even, as Nordette noted, MUCH LONGER afterward. It went from outright physical abuse to mental and emotional abuse, but abuse is abuse, and in a country where we proclaim we are created equal, it was wrong, wrong, wrong.

Maybe I'm oversimplifying, but what a wrong message to send. The excuse "things were different then" is never an excuse. Not for racism, not for sexism, not for any sort of unfair or inhumane treatment. It's an easy out, and we can't let ourselves go down that slippery slope, because the end result is excusing abhorrent behavior under cultural context. Humans are human, and moral is moral.

What is taught today? Are we facing the past, not just in regard to African-Americans but also to Native Americans? Whites behaved abominably to both of these groups in the past. There's a difference between making people pay in the here and now and all looking together at past injustices and vowing to work together to make sure they never happen again. We know they are happening elsewhere in the world - how can we work together in this country to stop it? And what do we teach our kids to make sure they never gloss over the past because it hurts to think about it?

In order to commit abominable acts, you have to convince yourself it's no big deal. So no, I don't think we should gloss over anything that happened in our country's past. I don't think we should let it turn today's blacks and whites against each other, but we shouldn't gloss over it. We need to link arms and read that history together, and teach our kids to love each other, leading by example.

Surrender, Dorothy - When I was your age, we just let them ride in the back window.

Rita Arens is a contributing editor for BlogHer -- Mommy & Family.

Agree

Adriennevh — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:59:27 -0500

I certainly agree it is a beautiful song, to that there is not doubt. I thank you for the clarification of the "titleing".

I did find it disrespectful of her to sing something other than what she was hired to sing. I did not make reference to the song itself or an African American's heritage being disrespectful. My main focus of disrespect in that statement was directed to those wearing their caps and chatting during the singing of the Star Spangled Banner.

I do have to disagree with someone who commented earlier on perhaps it should become our new National Anthem because it is patriotic and beautiful. Unfortunately it is also religious. That would be like making the Battle Hymn of the Republic our National Anthem (It was tried a decade or two ago).

BlogHer - Barack Obama - Comments

A bold choice that begs the question of patriotism...

True enough

Lucky indeed

Timing is everything

I guess I'm lucky! And confused.

Timing is Everything

No apologies necessary

"Protest" is all about *not* toeing the line...

Furious.

you bet

Dangerous thinking, Rita

America the Beautiful as national anthem

Thank you, Adrienne

What is being taught today?

Agree

"Protest" is all about not toeing the line...