Unexpected song switch at mayor's event -VIDEO-, where traditional anthem asked for, has prompted criticism from city/state govt & residents. Choice of 'Lift Ev'ry Voice & Sing,' written 1900 for Lincoln birthday commemoration, defended on her website
I had to watch her sing that a second time and I'm going to watch it a few more times, at least. The perfect assurance of being absolutely correct is something I've rarely seen in any performer. (I never had the privilege of seeing Paul Robeson in person.)
Had Marian Anderson been born after the Civil Rights Movement, I think she would have done the same:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Anderson
The white guy standing there with his clueless hand over his heart was priceless. And everybody acted like everything was just normal and usual, the way we did during slavery and Jim Crow and the way we do now with torture and wars of aggression.
Bravissima, maestra! Only wish I could have been there to hand her a dozen white roses. Lift EVERY voice and sing!
Saturday July 5, 2008, 5:37 pm
That was funny and sad, the sheeple didn't know whether it was really ok to clap, a bad sign that our liberty is in trouble. When freedom of expression becomes "strained"..........Thx Jill! I would of sang "WE ARE THE WORLD".
Saturday July 5, 2008, 6:16 pm
Good to see she's getting a deserved amount of criticism. Someone given the honor to sing the National Anthem and substituting something else ( the "black national anthem" LOL) is a cheat and a fraud. Now it's the public's turn for freedom of expression.
I'd say it was the country that said "All men are created equal," but continued to allow slavery and then segregation and Jim Crow that is the cheat and the fraud. The racists who criticize those who have been oppressed for centuries due to the color of their skin are the cheats and the frauds. They may have the right to exercise their freedom of expression, if that's how they characterize their hate speech, but they care nothing for the freedoms and equality that this country was supposed to stand for.
It is no honor to sing the anthem of a fascist nation engaged in wars of aggression, torture, and other crimes against humanity, which all very coincidentally seem to be targeted at people with darker skin.
Saturday July 5, 2008, 6:50 pm
I beleive rights for all people but some tend to forget the American Indians and I wont let them...Dont take this wrong but it seems its always black and white issue the Native Americans dumped in the ditch again....I guess the Natives dont mean much.....But good for this lady...Stand up for what you beleive in...But I wouldnt accept this song in no way shape or form for I myself are Native American.....
And by the way, the Star Spangled Banner is a song of war. Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing is a song of peace.
The revolutionary war was supposed to bring us greater freedoms than we had under King George. But we had habeus corpus under King George and we no longer have that. This isn't the country our ancestors fought for. They would never have accepted a tyranny greater than that of King George, since they weren't even willing to tolerate his, as mild as it was.
He did have his faults. He used mercenaries. We didn't until recently. Now we do. His taxes were onerous, but not as burdensome as ours. He obstructed justice, refused to obey laws, and created a multitude of new offices, but nowhere did he abuse his power as badly as our government has done for the past seven years, not just obstructing justice, violating laws, and creating offices like the Department of Homeland Security, but he didn't create debts that future generations had no possibility of repaying.
He may have held mock trials, but he didn't arrest people with no trial at all as our current government does. He plundered our resources, but he didn't contaminate entire populations for eteernity with radioactive weapons of mass destruction.
He was deaf to our entreaties, but no more deaf than our current government. This is not the America that deserves honor and respect, this is a tyranny that it is our duty to abolish, peacefully, and replace with a government of, by, and for the people. And that includes black people, Donni, something that our nation never did and, except for tokens who represent corporations and the wealthy elite, like Clarence Thomas, Condoleezza Rice, and Barack Obama, still does not.
Had we lived up to our heritage, there would have been no black national anthem because there wouldn't have been a need for one.
I hear you, Gorilly, but listen to the song. Listen to the words. It includes everyone. It is a song of peace. It does not say, "Lift every black voice and sing," it says, "Lift every voice and sing."
If the gorillies had a song of peace that included everyone, would you reject it because people called it the Gorilly Anthem instead of the Native American anthem?
Blacks and Native Americans have both experienced the hatred and violence of white supremacy and yet neither one condemns whites. They both condemn violence, selfishness, and exploitation, and do not judge people based on skin color.
The song has been called the black national anthem because it was rejected by white supremacists -- the last thing white supremacists wanted was people of color singing about peace and freedom. But it belongs to everyone who loves instead of hating. It is our song too. Ask the gorillies if they would reject a song of peace and nonviolence just because it was called the black national anthem. Last time I checked, gorillies were black. LOL
Saturday July 5, 2008, 7:16 pm
I don't recall anything mentioning racists exercising their freedom of expression,although they do have that right, just ordinary citizens who have a right to express their disapproval of someone, who, basically, defrauded them. If you engage someone to paint your house, and they spray graffiti on it instead, are you supposed to applaud them for their creativity and ignore the fact that they failed to meet their obligations?
Here are the lyrics and a little bit more about the song:
The Negro National Anthem
"Lift Every Voice and Sing"
by James Weldon Johnson
Originally written by Johnson for a presentation in celebration of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. This was originally performed in Jacksonville, Florida, by children. The popular title for this work is:
'THE NEGRO NATIONAL ANTHEM'
Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening 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 chastening 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 have 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 James Weldon Johnson June 17, 1871 - June 26, 1938
----------------
It is an old song and a beautiful song. It was written in 1899. And there is nothing in it to offend anyone, with the exception of references to God that might offend atheists like me, but I understand that a people only recently liberated from slavery and still severely oppressed, would have nobody else to call on.
African-Americans were taken from their homes where they had lived as indigenous peoples, and many made common cause with Native Americans against white genocide and enslavement. Until the European invasions, both groups had survived for thousands of years without destroying their environment or driving other living creatures to extinction.
People of color, both Native Americans and African-Americans, were treated the same way that invading Europeans treated gorillies -- they even called the people that they were slaughtering and enslaving "beasts." We know who the real beasts were. And some still are.
Donni, Rene Marie was not paid or contracted to do anything. She was expected to give her labor for free without reward, in the traditional way that whites have exploited black labor.
Had there been any broken obligations or fraud, she would have been sued.
If you find it offensive for somebody to sing about peace instead of war, that's your problem.
The only person defrauded was Rene Marie, since her ancestors never got the forty acres and a mule they were promised when slavery was abolished, and she has received no reparations for their labor or the hardships that their descendents endured due to the fact that America had denied their ancestors the right to literacy and to equality.
There was no fraud and no graffiti. A singer was asked to sing a song that is about war and that symbolizes a nation that was and still is engaged in genocide against people of color, and she did. But she changed the words to words of peace. People of peace and honesty applaud her. Those who prefer war and hypocrisy do not.
Saturday July 5, 2008, 7:44 pm
The words are pretty thanks for posting them and the word God doesnt offend me even though not my cup of nanner juice....
Saturday July 5, 2008, 7:45 pm
Mark, the horrors of slavery are irrelevant to the story, the beauty of the song she substituted is irrelevant to the story. She did not sing the requested and expected song, she chose to substitute one of her own choosing and did it in a sneaky manner instead of being brave enough to tell the truth. What is to be admired about that? People who prefer the truth do not applaud her.. People who admire dishonesty applaud her.
Everything is irrelevant except what YOU choose to focus on, Donni?
Rene Marie sang the requested and expected song. She just changed the lyrics to something more peaceful than "rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air," and something more honest than "land of the free and the home of the brave."
How free are a people who overwhelmingly oppose war but cannot prevail upon their government to stop it?
How free are a people who don't even have habeus corpus, a basic right that dates back to the 12th century and which we enjoyed even under the tyrant King George?
How brave are people who won't even oppose such a tyranny, who bow down to it and sing hymns to it?
People who prefer truth, applaud her. People who admire fascism and lies, keep spreading their racist propaganda.
Saturday July 5, 2008, 10:11 pm
Jill thanx. I admire this lady - good for her. Mark as always you have all the info at your fingertips - thanx for that. Blessings.
"She did not sing the requested and expected song, she chose to substitute one of her own choosing and did it in a sneaky manner instead of being brave enough to tell the truth. What is to be admired about that?"
Rene Marie made a statement about the oppressive, tyrannical, imperialist and facist practices of America.
Anytime you request an artist to perform a song, you'd better be prepared for that artist's rendition.
America is supposed to be a land that honors and respects freedom of speech which includes expression. Well I haven't seen anything that says that can't include the national anthem have you?
"People who prefer the truth do not applaud her.. People who admire dishonesty applaud her."
I disagree. Things are never that black and white.
Sunday July 6, 2008, 10:16 pm
Better to focus on what the story is about than to throw in everything but the kitchen sink, Mark. She did not sing the national anthem, as requested, nor did she simply sing her own rendition,as Michael implies, she sang a different song altogether. It's like requesting one song, and getting the Weird Al Yankovich version, same tune, different song, not acceptable.
I don't know anyone who admires fascism and lies, Mark, but since you have admitted to both sexism and racism, I guess you'd understand that racist propaganda part better that anyone.
Donni, people on Care2 have long known me and what I stand for, and are also very much aware of you and what you stand for.
For those who didn't know, it was good of you to demonstrate who and what you are once again.
Michael wrote: "Rene Marie made a statement about the oppressive, tyrannical, imperialist and fascist practices of America."
And THAT Donni, because you deny them while exemplifying them, is what you find unacceptable.
About fifty years ago I used to hang out in New York's Greenwich Village. The most insulting thing that anyone could call anyone else in that milieu was something I think fits you to a tee, Donni: Art critic!
"About fifty years ago I used to hang out in New York's Greenwich Village. The most insulting thing that anyone could call anyone else in that milieu was something I think fits you to a tee, Donni: Art critic!"
The government and other powers that be are always watching what artists say and do.
Why? As an artist myself(trombonist, composer for about 25 years) I know that we have the power to reach more people than any politician ever could. Politicians use rhetoric and legal mumbo jumbo to reach the masses but I(we) use music and art which is really what more people relate to.
Is it any coincidence that John Lennon and Bill Cosby were on Hoover's watch list and Nixon's enemies list?
No! They were viewed as threats to the establishment.
What does this have to do with Rene Marie and her rendition of the Nation Anthem?
Rene said more in one song than a politician could with the best speechwriter. She did it with music and she did it with a song that's viewed by many as "untouchable".
When Congress votes to fund the illegal wars, sometimes Code Pink will have protesters in the gallery. They might hold up signs, yell out, "Peace!" or engage in other disruptive tactics, and they are usually dragged out of the room by security and often arrested. Those who want war believe that the people have no right to interrupt the business of Congress and they applaud the arrests.
Those who want peace applaud the protesters.
Rene Marie wasn't arrested. Everyone in the room applauded. Rene sang a message of peace and gave it artistic expression.
Those who want peace, equality, human rights, human dignity, civil rights, and freedom of speech, applaud Rene Marie.
Those who want to control us, limit what we can say and where we can say it, who put the business of war above the joy of peace, and who abhor creative expression, wanting everything to follow a strict fascist agenda, condemn Rene Marie for interfering with business as usual.
Throughout the ages, tyrants and dictators have tried to silence critics and to limit what artists could do and where they could do it. From their prison cells, sometimes awaiting their inevitable deaths, courageous artists have composed forbidden songs and broken the rules to teach them to others, violated regulations by writing poems and even books on toilet paper and broken the law by having their words smuggled out of the prisons by friends, and thus became immortal and an inspiration for generations to come.
Some would condemn Shepherd Yuda for filming the repression and the rigging of the election in Zimbabwe's prisons, because he broke the laws of the dictator Mugabe. Others like myself applaud Shepherd Yuda for risking his life to show truth to the world.
Bureaucrats care only about rules, regulations, laws, contracts, and obedience. True artists of the people care nothing for such pettifoggery and dedicate their lives to freedom, including freedom of expression.
Freedom is not something that fascists can understand or even begin to imagine. They live in a world of laws and repression.
If they could, they would tell the sparrow what notes it could chirp and when and where it could sing them.
If you want to control what is sung, use a recording rather than a live artist. As long as there is even one breath left in a true artist, they will use it to express their dreams. It is their unalienable right, and only death can silence them.
Tuesday July 8, 2008, 12:20 am
Oh my, Art Critic, that just really stings, Mark. I never criticized the song she chose to sing, she could have chosen America, the Beautiful, or Battle Hymn of the Republic, or Dixie, for all I care. But, her decision, her protest, or whatever it was, to substitute another song for the National Anthem, which is a beautiful song on it's own, and despite it's battle setting is plainly not a song about war, That is what is the point here. You applaud her for her protest against a supposed "fascist, imperialistic, tyrannical and oppressive America" and yet want to deny that right to protest to those who disagree with her, or you dismiss their protest by labeling them racists or fascists,which you have absolutely no basis for. And then you fall into that predictable "black and white" stance that Michael claims he disagrees with.
If you want to control what is sung, perhaps you should use an artist who is honest in her dealings with you. Someone who has the guts to admit she wishes to sing something other than what she was requested to sing, someone who doesn't believe she and her dreams are more important than everyone else's. Someone you can trust to live up to the obligation they made when they agreed to sing for you. Someone who isn't afraid to get disinvited because of their beliefs. Someone who can stand on a corner and sing whatever moves them and who actually understands the difference between that and being asked to sing a specific song. Someone not Rene Marie, apparently.
I am, quite frankly, not at all ashamed of who I am and what I stand for. I am proud to be an American, despite some of the things our government has done, proud to personally stand for justice, fairness, freedom, equality and personal responsibility. Proud to be an "art critic", if you insist.
