LET'S ASK HYMN
Hey Roger, what are fans supposed to do during which anthem?
IN 2024, I VERY much want to do what’s right by society and humanity. If only I had a copy of the plan, the instructions manual.
As our nation continues to plummet into a conflagration of senseless divisiveness, our most authoritative leaders feed the dissent with a pile of hypocritical, pandering, and often gutless decisions and messages that best serve blind wishfulness.
And there’s no greater misdirected, faux populist, transparent frightened fool than the NFL’s $70 million-plus a year flip-flopper Roger Goodell.
Thursday, the NFL draft opened with a now common Goodell additive: two national anthems, the unofficial “black national anthem,” a pretty song that has no nationalistic or patriotic content, followed by the official U.S. national anthem, which from its start celebrates the second survival of the nascent United States from tyrannical British rule.
So how can one possibly not conclude that Goodell supports racial segregation in the form of two, distinct national anthems — one for black Americans, the other for mostly white Americans.
How does that, as Goodell’s conspicuous annual end zone messages declare, “End Racism”? It only divides our races, a return to water fountains designating race among the thirsty and “separate but equal” legislation that furthered segregation.
It only serves to put a fresh coat of pain on a house divided.
In-stadium or out, Goodell should at least provide some practical guidance as to how the two national anthems are designed to be heard and observed — at least before the drunken brawls and excessive on-field brutality begins.
For example, should white folks stand for the black national anthem? Or would they be accused of appropriating a song now specifically assigned to be sung and respected by blacks?
But then would it be disrespectful for whites to not stand for the black version. Help all of us on this, Roger. This is where you have placed us.
And what of the opening verse of the War of 1812 version, the one once presumed to belong and be sung by us all? Is that now for whites only? If blacks stand during it, let alone sing it, do they risk being called Uncle Toms or supporters of Jim Crow laws?
Guide us on this, Roger. Seriously. Do I remove my cap for both? You are allowing it to be sustained. And for how long?
Which one is whose national anthem?
For protesters, which knee should whites take, which should blacks take? Or are all knees created equal?
Put it this way, Rog, the day is coming when I’ll be at a game or event and have to figure out what to do, how to act to not hurt the feelings of anyone.
Maybe I’ll just float around in the corridors until the anthem or anthems are over.