Alright, A February Rant (Sorry, Not Sorry)

Oh doesn’t that video just scream the 1990s? My sister and I used to love that video. And if you don’t know the song and you are Black, African American or whatever the brothers & sisters are calling themselves these days, Shame, Shame, Shame, on you. This song is “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by James Weldon Johnson and his brother, John Rosamond Johnson in 1900. It is The Black National Anthem. The first verse is

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 past 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.

"Lift Every Voice and Sing" was publicly performed first as a poem as part of a celebration of Lincoln's Birthday on February 12, 1900, by 500 school children at the segregated Stanton School. Its principal, James Weldon Johnson, wrote the words to introduce its honored guest, Booker T. Washington. The poem was later set to music by Johnson's brother John in 1905.

In 1990, singer Melba Moore released a modern rendition of the song, which she recorded along with others including R&B artists & and gospel artists. That is the video to the song.

Alright, that is the history. Here is the rant. Why don’t we as a people know this song? I was at a Step Show in college and the signing of the Black Anthem started and people were scrambling to read their programs for the words.  The mental brakes went off in my head so hard. I was appalled and shocked. Now, I know everyone’s church does not sing that song every February like my foundation church did. But I am shocked that schools are not teaching this song. Okay, wait maybe at this point in history. But when I was in school in the 1980s and the 1990s, our school taught us the Black National Anthem. I know I went to an all-black student school in elementary school. But I went to multi-cultural middle & high school and we were learned, “Lift Every Voice and Sing”. Which is interesting for my High School because for the 1^st three years my school was a high school geared towards the health sciences. Yet, we sang the Black National Anthem for every Black History Program. Maybe that was just my black cultivated life.

We worry about not knowing our history and here is one of the most important facts we have. I don’t know any other American race that has their own Anthem yet we don’t all know it. (Side Note: Other races, if Y'all have an anthem and we don’t know about it, let us know and You better know the words) That is so sad. We have to do better. Oh and saying “We don’t know the American National Anthem either” is a gross excuse. We should know that also. (Didn't Renee Fleming do a great job singing that at Super Bowl this year? She hit "that note".) We have to Do Better. So I challenge all of us to learn “The Black National Anthem and put it to memory.  Rap it, Croon to it, Do runs with it, whatever. Well, don’t twerk or booty bounce to it. Just Learn it and Teach the future before the words and meaning die. James Weldon Johnson & John Rosamond Johnson, I Salute You. And those of you who know the words and sing the song, I Salute You, also.

As Always, Talking to You in Adult Terms