I’m not a basketball guy. Does this sound right?

WASHINGTON (AP) - Several NBA teams have played what is known as the "negro national anthem" at games during Black History Month thanks in part to the urging of a retired Howard University professor.

Eugene Williams, a 76-year-old retiree in Clinton, Maryland, has made it his goal to get professional and collegiate teams to play "Lift Every Voice and Sing" during February. He has been calling and writing teams for the past six months.

The Washington Wizards became the fourth NBA team to play the song at a game, doing so during a timeout midway through the first quarter against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night. As the song played, a video was shown with on-court highlights and Wizards players engaging in community activities.

The Oklahoma City Thunder played it in January, Williams said. The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Warriors played "Lift Every Voice and Sing" in February.

Williams attended the Warriors-Wizards game on the last day of Black History Month to hear the song played.

"I had no idea it would amount to all of this," Williams said.

He plans to keep advocating for more NBA teams to play the song during Black History Month. He is also reaching out to universities to include the song during games, having already heard it at Georgetown University games.

"My mission will be completed if it's done in stadiums all over the United States of America," Williams said. "That is my hope. That is my prayer. It will make our players feel more positive about themselves and about the game ... it will uplift their spirits as it does mine."

James Weldon Johnson, an author, civil rights activist and educator, wrote the lyrics to "Lift Every Voice and Sing." His brother, J. Rosamond Johnson, an accomplished musician, wrote the music for the Stanton School celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birthday in 1900. A chorus of 500 black children sang the tune.

Within 20 years, it was known around the world. The song became an anthem for black Americans during the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

Williams said he grew up hearing that song, and he wants current athletes to get the same feeling.

"For me it was the fight song. When I was a kid we had to learn it, we had to sing it, we performed it at athletic events, at church events," said Williams, a Virginia native. "It has always stuck with me as something that gave me strength, gave me power, and I feel personally for those people who know it, that anthem does the same thing for them."

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good for them. everyone has a right to be proud of who/where/what they come from. black people in America, in a very general sense, are a result of many brave and noble people who fought against injustice. if this song honors those people, then play it loud.

that said, I don't think I know the song and I'd venture to guess most in attendance at the games do not either.

I had to look it up. Never heard it before today.

The Negro National Anthem is uplifting, the US National Anthem is racist. Hmmm.

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
I had to look it up. Never heard it before today.

I think I heard it as a child.

Somthing like:

"Oh Lawdy, pick a bale o' cotton, Oh Lawdy pick a bale a day."


Or maybe that was Bugs Bunny...

Divisive assholes. There may be a Negro song but it aint the National Anthem. That one's already taken.

It's a very powerful and moving song. We sing it often at a Methodist church up here. I like it a lot.

There are only a few black worshippers in this church. I assumed that we all had ancestors who lived in some kind of slavery somewhere.

I never intended to preempt someone else's song. I'm happy to know more of the song's history.

Did anyone take a knee?

Basketball has been all about and catering to blacks for quite a while now.
Not surprised.

I'm not sure why these players need to "feel better about themselves"?

Especially since they make so damn much money.

If that's what they want, fine with me. A lot worse things have been done by professional sports teams of late.

Shall we play some David Alan Coe for White history month?

Ebonics is stupid when spoken, probably sounds like real shit when it is sung.

Hell yeah, that song always gets me hyped up! Turn that baby up to eleven and watch the fans go wild.




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/ya7Bn7kPkLo

PS please change your name back to Bullets, Wizards is just stupid.

I found the lyrics...

"Mammy's little baby loves short'nin', short'nin'
Mammy's little baby loves short'nin' bread"

When I saw the thread title, my first thought was the Hendrix version of the Star Spangled Banner. Which would be okay with me.

Ken

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
Divisive assholes. There may be a Negro song but it aint the National Anthem. That one's already taken.

This this this.

You want to play that song? Go ahead and play it, no problem. But not instead of the national anthem. There is one already.

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
Divisive assholes. There may be a Negro song but it aint the National Anthem. That one's already taken.

This this this.

You want to play that song? Go ahead and play it, no problem. But not instead of the national anthem. There is one already.

They played it during a commercial timeout, not in place of the Anthem.

"The Washington Wizards became the fourth NBA team to play the song at a game, doing so during a timeout midway through the first quarter against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night. As the song played, a video was shown with on-court highlights and Wizards players engaging in community activities."

Whenever they played it, it was divisive bullshit. Pick a tune and call it the white national anthem and observe the response when it is played publicly.