At this year’s game, R&B singer and New Orleans native Ledisi will be performing the anthem.
Although much has been made of the appearance of Donald Trump at this year’s Super Bowl, according to The Oklahoman, the league has made no plans to alter its newest tradition or its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to suit the whims of the Trump administration.
Later, it was set to music by his brother, John Rosamund Johnson, and was first performed in public to celebrate President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday in February.
According to Newsweek, Trump’s appearance at the game marks the first appearance at the game by a sitting president, and of course, the song’s presence at last year’s Super Bowl sent MAGA Republicans and other right-wing figures into a tailspin.
According to NBC News, some have already begun voicing their protests of the song on social media. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) said in a post that the NFL’s choice to perform the Black National Anthem is divisive.
America only has ONE NATIONAL ANTHEM. Why is the NFL trying to divide us by playing multiple!?Do football, not wokeness.— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) February 12, 2023
“America only has ONE NATIONAL ANTHEM. Why is the NFL trying to divide us by playing multiple!? Do football, not wokeness,” Boebert complained in her post.
However, Gerald Early, a pop culture essayist who teaches in the African and African American studies department of St. Louis’ Washington University, indicated to the outlet that the song is an affirmation of Black Americans’ perseverance and inspiration.
“The performance of the song should be framed to the public not as a protest song but as a song of Black affirmation, perseverance and inspiration,” Early said. “It is unfortunate that the song’s performance has become a culture war issue. Feelings might be running a bit more strongly on this issue since Donald Trump won the election decisively and he has always been opposed to this sort of thing.”
The culture war Early references is, in no small part, pushed by figures like Trump and Boebert, who often attempt to simultaneously position sports as a sanctuary from political issues, while also leaning into the political aspect of sports.
To that end, sports is inherently political, as Dr. Harry Edwards, the creator of the field of sports sociology and the architect of the 1968 Olympics protest carried out by Tommie Smith and John Carlos often points out.
“Colin Kaepernick took a stand. And it was made crystal clear that there is a huge price to pay,” Edwards told CBS News.
Trump has yet to address the song being performed at the Super Bowl.
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Source: Black Enterprise
