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Before the start of Super Bowl 2023, Emmy award-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph sang the hymn "Lift Every Voice and Sing". While Ralph's performance received a lot of praise, Colorado lawmaker Lauren Boebert disapproved of the hymn being performed, hinting that the hymn was divisive. Boebert took to Twitter to share her thoughts.
The song, commonly referred to as the Black National Anthem, was performed live and on the field for the very first time. In her tweet, Boebert asserted that the NFL was attempting to divide by playing both the hymn and the "Star Spangled Banner".
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"Lift Every Voice and Sing" was written as a poem in 1900 by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson. It was later used as an anthem for Black Americans throughout the Civil Rights era in the 1960s.
The lyrics call for strength, togetherness and faith in God after slavery was abolished in 1865. Ralph's performance came ahead of country music star Chris Stapleton's singing "The Star-Spangled Banner."
At the Super Bowl 2023 press conference, Ralph praised the NFL for their efforts at inclusivity with "Lift Every Voice and Sing".
Ralph said:
“To me, that shows a major effort by the NFL to be truly inclusive, to say, ‘We’re going to represent all people.' What a way to bring us all together.”
The hymn has been performed since 2021 during the Super Bowl festivities. Boebert was not the only politician upset over the hymn being performed as fellow representative Majorie Taylor Greene shared similar sentiments.
Why was Marjorie Taylor Greene upset as Boebert at the Super Bowl 2023 performance of the hymn?
Greene, a Republican congresswoman from Georgia, also took issue with the supposed "wokeness" at Super Bowl 2023, seemingly hinting at the selection to have "Lift Every Voice and Sing" incorporated.
A proposal was made last year to make "Lift Every Voice and Sing" the national hymn of the United States as a parallel to the anthem. However, Greene rejected the proposal. On the Firebrand podcast last year, she implied that the hymn is racist since it has been called the Black National Anthem.
Greene said:
“We only have one national anthem and I’m not a racist! So I don’t know why I need — why we need to elevate one race over the other. We’re all one nation under God. And that’s the only anthem."
Nonetheless, we'll see if Boebert and Greene speak more about Ralph's rendition of the hymn performance at Super Bowl 2023.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit Yahoo Sports, The Raw Story, and H/T Sportskeeda.
