Black Singer Skips National Anthem, sings Black Anthem: Her Explanation

Words from the website of Rene Marie, the black woman who was asked to sing the National Anthem at the State of the City speech in Denver. Instead, she sang Lift Every Voice and Sing.


WEREN’T YOU PROMOTING RACISM BY SINGING THE ‘BLACK NATIONAL ANTHEM’ INSTEAD OF THE NATIONAL ANTHEM?

Nothing could be further from the truth. The song you are referring to as the Black National Anthem is correctly titled “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing”. As a kid living in a segregated, southern town I grew up singing both songs. It seemed apparent to me early on that the sentiments expressed in each song are diametrically opposed to one another. The “Star Spangled Banner” spoke of ‘proudly hailing the flag’ in ‘the land of the free and the home of the brave’. I could see how some folks could have pride for the flag and feel free and brave and at home. But that sentiment was not a reality for black folks living in a town with Jim Crow laws, where the flag often hung from buildings they could not enter. It was not a reality for black soldiers (among them my own father) returning home and being denied their civil rights after having fought for the nation the flag represented. On the other hand, nobody but black folks found comfort in “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing”, even though the lyrics focused on ‘ev’ry voice singing’ the ‘harmony of liberty’. Why was that? I loved singing both songs but each one seemed to have their own aspects of exclusivity and segregation, not by design, no. But still the separation was palpable. Could I find a way to marry the two ideologies musically by melding the two songs into one harmonic thought? That would be a helluva thing. The fear of alienating both blacks and whites by blending these two sacrosanct songs was very real. But through the door I went, not heedless of the offense that might be taken. And to complete the effort, I re-wrote the melodies to “America the Beautiful” and “My Country Tis of Thee” but retained the lyrics. I combined all these songs in a suite and named it “Voice of My Beautiful Country”. The song I sang at the Mayor’s State of the City speech is the third movement of that suite. It is a love song to my country.