—
“Welcome to the United Snakes
Land of the thief, home of the slave
The grand imperial guard where the dollar is sacred, and power is God.
All must bow to the fat and lazy
The fuck you, obey me, and why do they hate me? (Who me?)
Only two generations away
From the world’s most despicable slavery trade.
Pioneered so many ways to degrade a human being
That it can’t be changed to this day
Legacy so ingrained in the way that we think;
We no longer need chains to be slaves
Lord it’s a shameful display
The overseers even got raped along the way
Because the children can’t escape from the pain
And they’re born with poisonous hatred in their veins
Try and separate a man from his soul
You only strengthen him, and lose your own
But shoot that fucker if he walk near the throne.
– Brother Ali “Uncle Sam Goddamn”
One of the Minnesota emcee’s most popular tracks, this is a scathing political debasement of all that corporate America stands for. The song hit hard enough within the industry to get Ali kicked off a tour sponsored by Verizon.
The title is an appropriation of Nina Simone’s Mississippi Goddam, including the “show tune” reference in the intro.
Ali immediately puts forward the major theme of this track: the “snakelike” or deceitful and two-faced nature of the United States and the people who cause it to be this way.
“The land of the thief and the home of the slave” line from Brother Ali’s track is of course a spin off the last line of our National Anthem. “land of the free and the home of the brave”. Both “freedom” and “bravery” were absent when NFL’ “Owners” (that phraseology is troublesome in and of itself) unilaterally chose to strip thier meal tickets, pardon “players” First Amendment Rights by penalizing players who #takeaknee.
Do you see the irony in compelling a black man (70% of the NFL) who kneels in silent protest to highlight so much unchecked police brutality a U.N. Human Rights Commission has publicly stated “Contemporary American police killings and the trauma that they create are reminiscent of the past racial terror of lynching.” To STAND during a song written by a slaveholding lawyer from an old Maryland plantation family ending with “the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
Then to have the caucasity to make this public statement-
“We want people to be respectful of the national anthem,” commissioner Roger Goodell said. “We want people to stand — that’s all personnel — and make sure they treat this moment in a respectful fashion. That’s something we think we owe. [But] we were also very sensitive to give players choices.”
Since when has “Shut up and get back to work, Nigger,” ever been respectful?
The policy subjects teams to a fine if a player or any other team personnel do not show “respect” for the anthem. That includes any attempt to sit or kneel, as dozens of players have done during the past two seasons to protest racial inequality and police brutality. Those teams also will have the option to fine any team personnel, including players, for the infraction.
In 2016, Colin Kaepernick helped spark a broader protest movement in the NFL when he began sitting and then kneeling during the national anthem in order to raise awareness about racial inequality and police brutality. Reid, who played with Kaepernick for four years, joined his teammate by kneeling.
Kaepernick has yet to agree to a new contract after voiding his deal with the 49ers in March 2017. He filed a grievance in October, saying teams have conspired to keep him out of the NFL as a result of his social advocacy. multiple teams saw Kaepernick as a starting-caliber quarterback when he hit free agency ahead of the 2017 season.
Reid filed a grievance similar to Kaepernick’s in early May. He remains unsigned despite finishing with 67 combined tackles and two interceptions in 13 games. The five-year veteran ranked ninth year-end ranking of the top strong safeties in January.
What exactly do these men owe anyone?
Everything a pro NFL Athlete has is earned by himself alone. His trainers, coaches & staff get a piece of the pie since he was playing in High School, the NCAA and his current team.
Many of these players come from nothing. They lack privileged or pampered backgrounds. And because of this fact, many have their own reasons to speak out about what’s happening in the communities they grew up in and the right as American Citizens to protest respectfully and white teammates have also joined in to support them.
As a mater of fact, our history of slavery in the United States justifies reparations for African Americans, a recent report by a U.N.-affiliated group based in Geneva stated.
This conclusion was part of a study by the United Nations’ Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, a body that reports to the international organization’s High Commissioner on Human Rights.
The group of experts, which includes leading human rights lawyers from around the world, presented its findings to the United Nations Human Rights Council, pointing to the continuing link between present injustices and the dark chapters of American history.
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Racism/WGAfricanDescent/Pages/WGEPADIndex.aspx
In particular, the legacy of colonial history, enslavement, racial subordination and segregation, racial terrorism and racial inequality in the United States remains a serious challenge, as there has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent.
Where’s the lie?
Malcolm X observed that this American motto was flawed, as he did in a speech in Ghana in May 1964, the irony of the background of its author and the exaltation of its ideals does not arise. “Anytime you think that America is the land of the free,” Malcolm told the African audience, “you come there and take off your national dress and be mistaken for an American Negro, and you will find out you’re not in the land of the free.” He failed to mention the author was himself a slaveowner.
It’s time for a change and this is where my proposal comes in.
Why not change the National Anthem to “Lift Every Voice and Sing” as a down payment for what America owes the descendants of it’s unpaid labor force? And, as Congress votes to replace our old Anthem,
Americans of good will, work together, be courageous, defend the freedom of our fellow citizens the right to peaceful protest and NEVER be compelled to sing any anthem or salute any flag.
As cited in the U.N. report, in spite of decades of substantial changes since the end of the enforcement of Jim Crow laws and the fight for civil rights, ideology ensuring the domination of one group over another, continues to negatively impact the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of African Americans today.
“The dangerous ideology of white supremacy inhibits social cohesion amongst the US population.” again, an independent body of human rights investigators stated this, but many White Americans, like these NFL owners and fans, fail to lift a finger about it and expect things to magically improve, have no vested interest in giving up the unearned privlages they enjoy or remain ignorant to America’s racist legacy and blind to present racial injustice.
This is why they kneel.
Malcom X famously stated “If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there’s no progress. If you pull it all the way out that’s not progress. Progress is healing the wound that the blow made. And they haven’t even pulled the knife out much less heal the wound.”
There has NEVER been “Liberty and Justice for All” in this country since Whites landed in the Americas.
The United States most certanlty is not a “Land of the Free” neither in Keys time nor today, if you must compel loyalty oaths and mandatory anthem singing.
It’s not the home of the Brave, if White people are too fragile to see Black men silently kneeling before a game.
So why not scrap “The Star Spangled Banner” all together? Show the world America is committed to finally dress this wound and make the Negro National Anthem the National Anthem for us all?
Let’s be perfectly clear. It will in no way absolve America’s past or present crimes against its citizens, it will however go a long way toward the truth and reconciliation that independent auditors who studied this issue all concur America has yet to truly embrace.
Instead of punishing football players, shouldn’t team owners enriched by these men, be the first ones kneeling shoulder to shoulder with thier players and celebrate American freedom to protest against injustice?
The fans, who cheer for them every Sunday, should be brave enough to push back against this renewed tide of bigotry and intolerance since the last election, and in no uncertain terms, fight institutional racism wherever they can.
What’s the point of worshipping a British Military hymn written by a slaveholding racist when your fellow Americans are fighting injustice?
What good are the window dressings of placing your hand on your heart, sing about bravery and freedom not all Americans share? Empty Nationalistic displays of allegiance, loyalty oaths and flag-waving are only patriotic drag, and if the 20th Century taught us anything, enforced patriotism is only a hairs breath from facisim. It’s your democracy to lose if you haven’t gift wrapped it for Putin already.
What’s so bad about teaching and learning about our countries troubled past and raising awareness about current injustices or attempting to embrace each other for the future ahead that our decedents of all stripes must face together. Heal those wounds of the past and build a future intentionally, for all its citizens, not just delude ourselves we do before kickoff?
We haven’t always had a National Anthem.
“The Star-Spangled Banner”, the current national anthem of the United States lyrics come from the poem “Defence of Fort M’Henry”. 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British ships of the Royal Navy in Baltimore Harbor during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. Key was inspired by the large U.S. flag, with 15 stars and 15 stripes, known as the Star-Spangled Banner, flying triumphantly above the fort during the U.S. victory.
“The Star-Spangled Banner” was recognized for official use by the United States Navy in 1889, and by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in 1916, and was made the national anthem by a congressional resolution on March 3, 1931 (46 Stat. 1508, codified at 36 U.S.C. § 301), which was signed by President Herbert Hoover. (citation wiki)
In 1814, Key was a slaveholding lawyer from an old Maryland plantation family, who thanks to the system of human bondage had grown rich and powerful. During his lifetime, abolitionists ridiculed Key’s words, sneering that America was more like the “Land of the Free and Home of the Oppressed.”
Additionally, Key used his office as the District Attorney for the City of Washington from 1833 to 1840 to defend slavery, attacking the abolitionist movement in several high-profile cases. This while the The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will. IV c. 73) abolished slavery throughout the British Empire.
By the mid-1830s, the American abolitionist movement was gaining momentum and with it came increased violence, particularly from pro-slavery mobs attacking free blacks and white abolitionists, and other methods to silence the growing cries for abolition.
In a House of Representatives and United States Senate inundated with petitions from abolitionists calling for the ending or restriction of slavery, pro-slavery Congressmen looked for a way to suppress the voices of abolitionists.
In 1836, the House passed a series of “gag rules” to table all anti-slavery petitions and prevent them from being read or discussed, raising the ire of people like John Quincy Adams, who saw restricting debate an assault on a basic First Amendment right of citizens to protest and petition.
This is exactly what the NFL is doing today to black players under false pretense of “respect”.
The U.S. Constitution contains more than the 2nd Amendment. When will we clamor to respect our founding document?
Ironically, while Key was composing the line “O’er the land of the free,” it is likely that black slaves were trying to reach British ships in Baltimore Harbor. They knew that they were far more likely to find freedom and liberty under the Union Jack than they were under the “Star-Spangled Banner.”
By contrast, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was publicly performed first as a poem as part of a celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on February 12, 1900, by 500 school children at the segregated Stanton School in Jacksonville, Florida. Its principal, James Weldon Johnson, wrote the words to introduce its honored guest Booker T. Washington. The poem was set to music in 1905 by Johnson’s brother John. In 1919, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) dubbed it “The Negro National Anthem” for its power in voicing the cry for liberation and affirmation for African-American people.
The Johnsons have an impeccable record of egalitarianism and pubilic service to black Americans and all Americans.
TIronically, J. Rosamond Johson served as the first Deputy Marshal for the historic Negro Silent Protest Parade in 1917.
The Negro Silent Protest Parade was a silent march of about 10,000 African Americans along Fifth Avenue starting at 57th Street in New York City on July 28, 1917. The event was organized by the NAACP, church, and community leaders to protest violence directed towards African Americans, such as recent lynchings in Waco and Memphis. The parade was precipitated by the East St. Louis riots in May and July 1917 where at least 40 black people were killed by white mobs.
Born in Jacksonville, Florida, he had much of his career in New York City. Johnson is most notable as the composer of the hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, which has come to be known in the United States as the “Negro National Anthem”.
His Brother James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871 – June 26, 1938) was an American author, educator, lawyer, diplomat, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Johnson is best remembered for his leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where he started working in 1917. In 1920 he was the first African American to be chosen as executive secretary of the organization, effectively the operating officer. He served in that position from 1920 to 1930. Johnson established his reputation as a writer, and was known during the Harlem Renaissance for his poems, novels, and anthologies collecting both poems and spirituals of black culture.
National anthems are special songs. They’re solemn, perhaps epic, and they speak to the character and soul of the nation. I say, the troubling history and blatant hypocrisy of the current anthem demands a new one. The Star Spangled Banner wasn’t always our anthem, we can chose another. The Brothers Johnson, songwriters history bear none of the baggage of Francis Scott Key and exemplify the qualities we supposedly value. “LIft Every Voice And Sing” recognizes our painful past but also is aspirational and can be and has been embraced by all colors and creeds since it’s debut. Even non believers and atheists have found it unifying, it’s current and far more incusionatory than our anthem.
On April 14, 2018, Beyoncé included the song in the set list of her widely-acclaimed concert at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” doesn’t glorify war, but isn’t meek nor mild, it resonates with the power and tenacity of a people forged in bondage and fortied by faith in a brighter tomorrow.
And quite frankly, the bill is due.
In its report, the U.N. specifically dwells on the extrajudicial murders #takeaknee & #blacklivesmatter are rasing awareness about that are a product of an era of white supremacy:
“Lynching was a form of racial terrorism that has contributed to a legacy of racial inequality that the United States must address. Thousands of people of African descent were killed in violent public acts of racial control and domination and the perpetrators were never held accountable.”
Today, that legacy continues unchecked, condoned and implemented by state sanctioned officers of the law. Particularly in struggling, underserved communities of color that depend upon the protection and service of law enforcement the most.
You want players to stand? Give them reason to believe America stands with us. Recognize the knife is there, remove it, treat the wound left behind.
Replacing the Anthem is not complete, but it’s not an insignificant reconciliatory gesture.
What song tells the tale of America or hews more to what America was and still is, but also what she so desperately wishes to aspire to become than – “Lift Every Voice And Sing”? The fight for justice in our nation has been long, hard and far from over, it must be inclusive, intersectional and action-oriented or there is no nation. Our children’s only way forward is together.
Here are the lyrics-
Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark opast has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou Who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou Who hast 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.
Songwriters: J. Rosamond Johnson / James Johnson
Lift Every Voice and Sing lyrics © Carlin America Inc.
“Though we should remember the flaws and failings that often animate our history, to me at least, they do not need to define it. We should remember that if, 200 years after it was declared so by a slaveholder and enemy of free speech, the United States is “the land of the free,” that is because of “the brave” who have called it home since dawn’s early light in September 1814.” – Christopher Wilson Director of Experience Design at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
***
If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project and want a deeper connection with our community, please join us as a Premium Member, today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
Art Credit – Brother Ali (The Undisputed Truth), Wiki
—
Photo credit: screenshot from Brother Ali video