Lift Every Voice and Lie

Published: July 2, 2008, 4:27 pm

Some of you may already have heard of Rene Marie, the jazz singer in Denver (site of the upcoming DNC) who was invited to sing the national anthem at the mayor’s State of the City address. She snubbed the “Star Spangled Banner”, however, to sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing”. And she lied to do it. Now, I happen to like “Lift Every Voice”. As music, I probably even prefer it to the national anthem (though not “America the Beautiful”, which you mess with at your peril). But that’s not the point. The point is that if you are engaged to sing the national anthem, you had better have a good reason if you don’t. Let’s see if she does: Instead, Marie performed the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which also is known as the “black national anthem.” Whoa, whoa, whoa. Since when? Of what black nation is “Lift Every Voice” the anthem? Liberia? Ghana? Watts? What kind of nonsense

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