Singing the "Unofficial Black National Anthem" at the Superbowl: A Return to "Separate But Equal?"

The Superbowl is an American institution.

It produces warm, sentimental feelings akin to Mom's hot apple pie, Thanksgiving dinner and the Fourth of July because it is an American institution, a unifying event for football fans and Americans of all stripes.

And colors.

The Superbowl is watched by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, not just Americans, thanks to cable and satellite television and smartphones.

Because of this, advertisers pay millions of dollars for a thirty-second time slot during the game.

It also produces land-office business for the bars and restaurants with wide-screen television sets tuned into the game, complete with football pools and free food, usually consisting of pizza and chicken wings, for customers who don't want to watch the game at their homes.

After the introductions and before the game begins, America's national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner" is sung, usually by a celebrity.

"The Star Spangled Banner" is the OFFICIAL national anthem.

The ONLY official national anthem.

It is about the US flag, the symbol around which ALL Americans may rally, not just certain segments or fragments of US society, regardless of race, color, creed, religion or national origin.

For the last three years, after "The Star Spangled Banner" had been sung, we have been subjected to the singing of "Lift Every Voice and Sing.," courtesy of the NFL Only this year was the first time it had been sung in field.

It is an innocuous enough song...except that it has been repeatedly billed as "The unofficial Black national anthem."

Such a designation categorizes it as appealing only to one segment of US society, the Black Community, not of the whole and therefore not a song about American unity or patriotism.

It is divisive.

The Superbowl has permitted its performance for the last three years to mollify noisier elements of the Black and Woke Communities because its organizers didn't want to be branded as racists if it wasn't included.

The word "racism" has become overdone, used to frighten people by accusing them of it when loudmouthed activists don't get their way.

The Superbowl's organizers, rather than simply say that there is only ONE national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," and that it will be the only song sung before the games begin, gave into activists and played it after our real national anthem to show that they are NOT racists.

Simply cowards.

A better compromise would have been to allow "Lift Every Voice" to be sung during the half-time show and not bill it as "the unofficial Black national anthem.

But that wasn't enough to appease Woke liberals.

Another question is are White folk allowed to sing it?

One might wonder why the Latino Community, or the Asian-American Community, or the Indigenous People of North America haven't demanded that their "unofficial national anthems" be sung before the Superbowl's games begin, too?

After all, what is good for the goose is good for the gander, isn't it?

But that does not bespeak of national unity but of fragmentation.

It DOES smack of a revival of "separate but equal," with people singing "my anthem," talking about "my president (or whatever elected official)," "my government," regardless of the people who constitute a majority being part of it or agreeing to it.

Or not.

Perhaps the Black Community would like to see an all-Black Superbowl, with all Black players, entertainers, sportscasters and commercials.

As well as schools and neighborhoods, a revival of "separate but equal" that was overturned in the 1950's (although, sadly enough, it still exist in other than legal forms today, while not as blatant as previously).

There is only one national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner." Woke liberal activists can bitch about it as much as they want, but that is a fact, while continuing to bill "Lift Every Voice" as a Black national anthem with equal parity to the real one is merely their romantic self-indulgence, deluding themselves into believing that they can make it so.

"The Star-Spangled Banner" represents unity and patriotism while "Lift Every Voice" represents fragmentation and disunity.

And why couldn't the organizers of the Superbowl just let the fans enjoy the game without politicizing it?