Opinions vary on NFL anthem decision

CINCINNATI (WKRC) – The National Football League is no stranger to controversy. Back in 2016, Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality. Two years later, the league essentially banned that action, requiring all players on the field at the time of the anthem to stand.

But this summer, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league was wrong for not listening to its players and now the NFL is taking more measures to fight social and racial injustice. Part of that was recently announcing that Lift Every Voice and Sing, also known as the Black national anthem will be performed before every Week 1 kickoff and before The Star-Spangled Banner.

"It’s a nice symbolic gesture, but it must be understood that the uprising across the country is over systemic abuse, violence and racist ideologies and policies,” said Christopher Miller, the Senior Director of Education and Community Engagement at The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

Miller says he remembers the song from church as kid.

"It served to uplift a race of people to show intellectual equality as well as advanced placement of African Americans in America," said Miller.

The James Weldon Johnson poem written in 1900 was turned in a song by his brother John Rosamond Johnson five years later as part of a celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birthday. In 1919, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) adopted it "The Black National Anthem.”

James Weldon Johnson, a civil rights activist, was the leader of the NAACP from 1920 -1930. Johnson was also an influential novelist, poet, songwriter, educator, lawyer and United States consul in Venezuela and Nicaragua. His work during the Harlem Renaissance propelled him to a professorship at New York University and Fisk University.

The announcement that Lift Every Voice and Sing is to be played during week one hit NFL players, athletes, politicians and every day people differently.

For newly added Bengals defensive end DJ Reader, the move brings out personal memories from childhood.

“With my parents having attended HBCUs, Lift Every Voice and Sing was a song I grew up listening to that holds special meaning for me," said Reader. “It will be awesome if it is included as part of the pre-game and I think it will resonate with a lot of players and fans each time it is played.”

Some players agree, like Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Chris Conley, calling it a great way to honor the movement.

Others disagree, like former NFL player and politician Burgess Owens who tweeted, “there is no black anthem.”

United States Senator Ted Cruz also took to Twitter calling the decision asinine, tweeting, “how many anthems do we have?"

NBA star and three time champion and two time MVP Steph Curry posted, “Can someone please explain to me how this solves anything ???????”

For Miller, he hopes this pushes people to take a closer look at The Star-Spangled Banner and all its four verses, not just the one commonly known and recited.

In verse three it reads:

“No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave.”

The Star-Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key in 1814 but wasn’t adopted as a national anthem until 1931.

"Is it really an exclusionary song or is it in inclusionary song? “ asked Miller. “Lift Every Voice and Sing, the title... it says lift every voice not just Black voices but lift every voice and sing out of the spirt of inclusion."

The NFL is also considering allowing players to wear decals on helmets to honor victims of police brutality.