Photo via Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
July 16, 2021, 12:56 pm
“DEMS DESTROY FUN,” yelled Sean Hannity on Twitter about a song played before sports games Thursday.
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Fox News host and chronic loud man Sean Hannity expressed a high level of distress at the news that for the 2021 football season in the U.S., the NFL will be playing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by former NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson before each game. The song is often referred to as the “Black national anthem” and will be played or performed in addition to (not instead of) the regular national anthem as a way to support and uplift its many Black players and fans and promote racial unity and healing from white supremacy.
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This is all far too “political” for Hannity, who blamed it all on the Democrats.
“Why do the Dems have to inject politics into sports?” he wrote. “The NFL is playing the ‘Black national anthem’ & the Olympic committee is redesigning its flag logo. We already have a flag & an anthem!”
The NFL is not beholden to the Democratic party and the Olympic committee, being an international organization, even less so. Regardless, Hannity does not seem to hold the same opinion on the singing of the standard national anthem, which is a political song about a battle in a very political war, but it was written by a white guy (who owned slaves).
“Lift Every Voice and Sing,” however, is based on a moving poem about continuing forward with hope for a better future in spite of past adversity and oppression and references God many times, which folks like Hannity usually enjoy.
“This Christian hymn about the struggle for freedom and equality inspires hope,” wrote Executive Vice President of Football Operations for the NFL Troy Vincent. “It has encouraged generations of Black people that God will lead us to the promises of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. It’s as pertinent in today’s environment as it was when it was written.” Other conservative pundits decided to weigh in as well:
So the NFL will include the Black national anthem and “social justice messages” in the 2021 season. That should do wonnnnders for ratings.
— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) July 15, 2021
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The song was also performed before NFL games during the first week of the season in response to the widespread protests over Derek Chauvin’s murder of George Floyd. Conservatives were mad about it then, too, but the NFL has decided to continue its dedication to racial justice rather than go back to pretending like there isn’t a problem with white supremacy in this country.
*First Published: July 16, 2021, 12:56 pm
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