In his ongoing, unofficial, and unelected role as the state's latter-day Emily Post of national anthem etiquette, Gov. Pete Ricketts recently criticized the playing of the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing" -- known as the Black national anthem -- before Nebraska men's basketball games along with "The Star-Spangled Banner," as a "political gesture that will divide Nebraskans based on their identity." Even Ricketts, who seems to value incarceration over education, should know better. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is a beautiful song composed in 1900 as a poem by school principal, novelist, poet, diplomat and civil rights leader James Weldon Johnson in celebration of President Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Johnson's students at a segregated Black high school in Jacksonville, Florida, first performed the song before it quickly spread throughout the country.

Source: thestar November 14, 2021 12:02 UTC