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Rene Marie Sings Black National Anthem Instead
Jazz Singer Rene Marie was booked to sing the national anthem at the annual Denver mayoral state of the city speech (click to read more of Amy Gahran's take on the reporting of the event).
Marie has said that she was engaging in both art and protest.
As Barack Obama was stopping in the state of Colorado the day after, the Democratic convention will be held in Denver and Obama is black, he was asked to make a statement about Marie's performance despite the fact that he was in no way associated with Marie or the event.
Reactions have ranged from supportive, nuanced historical perspectives, anger, outrage, calls for Marie to be sued for breech of contract (she was not paid for the performance), to extreme racism (white racist websites and blogs are having a field day with this).
I am disappointed, though not at all surprised, that most of the reaction has been facile anger with very few examinations of the legitimacy of Marie's claims that her performance constituted art or how it functioned as a form of protest. Similarly I'm saddened but, again, not at all surprised by the depth of professed lack of knowledge of US history.
Yes there is a song titled "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" which became known as The Negro National Anthem or Negro National Hymn (which is how it was formally recognized by Congress). As the term Negro has fallen out of use, it is now often referred to as The Black National Anthem.
In the video it appears that nobody recognizes the lyrics Marie sings to the tune of "The Star Spangled Banner." Outraged reaction followed once it became known that the lyrics (originally written as a poem) were from something known as The Black National Anthem.
While I remain of the belief that the discussions of race which are arising during this political season are important as catalysts to painful but necessary discussions, I fear this incident unfortunately has only served to fuel mostly anger, hatred and prolonged ignorance.
Maybe we can have a discussion here that digs a little deeper. Do you think this a legitimate form of performance art? Did it serve as subversive protest? Does Lift Ev'ry Voice still serve a roll as a "national anthem" for black Americans? Why do we require Obama to speak to every controversial action a black person takes in this country?
Personally I enjoyed the musical mashup and found it interesting from an artistic perspective. And I thought it was effective as a form of protest. Who better than artists to be subversive, to shake us up and get us talking? I wish deeply that some folks will be inspired to learn more about this song, the role it has played in this country's history and will move beyond the superficial reaction many are having to the reference to race in the alternate title. And, seriously people, Marie's choice and expression of thought has nothing to do with Senator Obama.
Jill Tubman at Jack & Jill Politics observes (and click through to see the site's gorgeous and cheeky redesign if you haven't seen it):
I suppose I’d be more sympathetic if her decision to hijack Denver’s annual state of the city meeting was promoting awareness for a specific injustice happening in America or locally Colorado perhaps. Then perhaps it might be construed as a courageous act. As it is though, it seems deceptive — she wasn’t contracted to sing the black national anthem (which is a gorgeous inspirational song). They asked her to sing the National Anthem, the Star Spangled Banner, which all African-Americans recognize and sing as our nation’s official anthem.
I’m not sure why this has received so much media attention unless the goal is to portray African-Americans, including and especially Barack Obama as unpatriotic. That’s not real and is Afrpatently false. And shame on the media for trumpeting the story. It’s like a gift to Fox News. Ugh — I’m personally embarrassed.
Queen Ester at Kudzu, Mon Amour recalls the importance of Lift Ev'ry Voice to the black community:
every black anyone in my little kid world knew this song and they knew it cold. they sang it from the heart, with feeling. and in a way, all of us knowing
