also known as "The Black National Anthem"
by James Weldon Johnson
Lift ev'ry 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 has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has 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.
I have heard it is beautiful. I am sure it is. It is great that there is a song that their race and culture can connect with, but to make it a National Anthem? Am I the only one that sees what is going on? Blacks blame whites for not seeing them as the same, equal, but I have to say I think it is more their fault than anyone's. They continue to demand to be set apart and be treated special. From scholarships that I can't touch because I am white (but they can sure have all mine, and have a better shot at getting them) to the Black Miss America Pageant (can you imagine if we had a White Miss America Pageant?) they (not all, but enough of them) don't want to be treated equally, they want to be treated special. That is segregation... what they didn't want I thought. I don't think that is what Martin Luther King Jr. had in mind when he said he had a dream. I have a feeling that he wouldn't approve of what is going on at all. He'd probably tell Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton to shut up. When I talk to blacks on this subject I hear one of 2 things. Either they agree with me, they don't want to be called African American, they wish Jessie Jackson would shut up, and they see that much of what is going on is hurting the reputation of their race and not helping it at all. Or they tell me that I have no idea what I am talking about because I am a white girl from the South. I typically then ask them if they ever were owned by someone or if they themselves ever had to use a separate drinking fountain or not allowed to go to school with whites. I have yet to have anyone tell me yes to any of those questions. The fact is, I have never owned a slave or held someone back because of their race and they have never been a slave or been held back because of their race. So why am I having to deal with it? I don't owe any of them anything and no one alive today does. In fact, my ancestors never owned slaves and most likely worked right along side of them on farms and plantations. Sure, they got paid but they had to provide their own food and shelter too. Don't even get me started on all the time and tax payer's money we wasted in 2007 issuing state apologies for slavery!!!!! So many want to play the black card when they don't get there way. Don't get me wrong, women do it too, and I don't agree with that either. The problem is they will always be looked at in a less than perfect way because they won't let go of the past. I didn't say forget the past, but just to let go of it. Slavery is bad. No one should own someone else. But we don't anymore, so let it go and be thankful for your freedom for crying out loud!
I like this post... http://www.progressiveu.org/175053-black-national-anthem-why
Lots of good comments on it.
