(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Call me Woke, if you must [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-15 Some thoughts on the Super Bowl and the radical conservative complaint of “wokeness:” So, Colorado’s own Village Idiot Lauren Boebert has been complaining that the Super Bowl went “woke” and was, therefore, trying to divide us as a nation. Her main bone of contention? That Lift Every Voice and Sing was played prior to the National Anthem. Yes, this song was written by a black man, James Weldon Johnson in 1900. Weldon was a poet, as well as an organizer for the NAACP, and his most famous poem was set to music and became a song associated with the civil rights movement by 1917. And, yes, it is often referred to as the “Negro/Black National Anthem.” The Star-Spangled Banner didn’t become the official national anthem until 1931, signed into law by Herbert Hoover. It commemorates the War of 1812. It was adopted as the Navy’s anthem in 1899. It became the de facto national anthem at the 1916 Olympics. Prior to that, My County, ‘Tis of Thee served as our anthem, though it was never official, and other national hymns, such as Hail, Columbia, have served the same purpose. Boebert makes the claim that there “is only one national anthem.” While this is legally true of the U.S., it is hardly the only song that has served to represent us over the history of this country. Further, many people have criticized the anthem as being about nothing but war – the lyrics do not celebrate the country, its people, its culture, its land, just the flag as it stood over a battle scene. Many such critics have argued that another song might be a better choice. While the Star-Spangled Banner is a fitting anthem for an arm of the military, it is less fitting as an anthem to unify a diverse nation, perhaps. No one has pushed the argument that Lift Every Voice should replace the Star-Spangled Banner. However, I don’t think it is inappropriate for the NFL to play a song that reflects the values of our nation, in additional to the official national anthem. “Lift every voice and sing, Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty” Liberty is a favorite rallying cry of the radical conservative movement, as well as the rest of the nation. How can this be seen as a call to divide the nation, then? “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” Faith and hope? I’m not sure I see anything that should divide conservatives from progressives there, either. “Out from the gloomy past, Till now we stand at last Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.” Another message of hope, suggesting we have built something worth having, here, in the U.S. Are progressives the only ones who are proud that we have overcome struggles and become a better nation? “May we forever stand, True to our God, True to our native land.” If people like Boebert see this as a divisive message, is she calling for the downfall of the nation? I thought she was a patriot. Maybe that means something different to her than it does to me. Heck, the lyrics are even pretty much in line with Christianity, which conservatives claim to love. Truly, there is nothing in the lyrics of Lift Every Voice that should be divisive to our nation – It sings of being true to the nation, one that has hope for our present and our future. Sounds very patriotic to me. So, if it isn’t something in the lyrics, why are Boebert and her ilk so upset by its appearance at the Super Bowl? Could it possibly, just possibly, be that the song is associated with – gasp – African Americans? I really can’t fathom any other complaint. Which brings one to the conclusion that Boebert is really complaining about the acknowledgement of the existence of non-white people. And, frankly, this is part-and-parcel of the radical right’s problem with all things they lump under “woke.” CRT is a legal theory which posits that the historical division of race in this country has played a role in the writing of laws, and that one should be aware of possible bias in outcomes when writing new laws. And we all know how much the Radical White, I mean Radical Right, hates taking race into consideration, given their hatred of Affirmative Action. Radical conservatives are objecting to the teaching of American historical truths, such as the existence of slavery and the equal rights movement, because that would mean teaching that black people have been part of the country since before the U.S. even was a country. They object to Drag Queen story hours, not because anything nefarious has ever happened at one, but because they don’t want to have to acknowledge that trans people exist. They accuse teachers of being “groomers” because they don’t want to acknowledge that some families look different than others. Pronouns? They don’t want to have to admit that their definition of man and woman may not fit everyone. The radical right wants to go through their lives assuming that everyone is EXACTLY like them. The very existence of something that doesn’t fit into their understanding of themselves is an affront to them, as it forces them to examine who they are in the grander scheme of things. For those of us who fall outside of able-bodied, cis-gendered, straight, Christian, and white (in visage as well as culturally), such self-examination is generally not earth-shattering by the time we hit our twenties. If you have lived your life somnambulant and assuming you are the very definition of everything that is normal and universal, waking up to the fact that different ways of being exist is, well, apparently, an uncomfortable thing. I guess that’s why they use “woke” as an insult. Frankly, I’ve never thought sleeping through life sounded like a good thing, but, then again, I don’t need to bury my head under the pillow to block out the existence of varying levels of melanin, LGBTQ folks, non-Christians, or cultural diversity. I am not affronted. It doesn’t rattle me. Call me woke, I’m good with that. And I do find the message of Lift Every Voice a very unifying one, loud as the rolling sea. Lift Every Voice and Sing Lift every voice and sing, Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty; Let our rejoicing rise High as the list'ning 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. Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chast'ning rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died; Yet with a steady beat, Have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our fathers sighed? We have come over a way that with tears has been watered. We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered, Out from the gloomy past, Till now we stand at last Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast. God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way; Thou who hast by Thy might, Led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path, we pray. Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee, Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee; Shadowed beneath Thy hand, May we forever stand, True to our God, True to our native land. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/15/2153116/-Call-me-Woke-if-you-must Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/