Denver woman stirs controversy by singing Black national anthem at cit

[DrunkBomber]

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A singer in Denver stirred up controversy this week when she sang the words to the Black national anthem instead of singing the U.S. national anthem at the mayor's annual State of the City speech.

 

Singer René Marie was introduced by City Council President Michael Hancock to sing "The Star Spangled Banner" on Tuesday at Mayor John Hickenlooper's annual State of the City address. But instead of singing "Oh say can you see," Marie sang "Lift ev'ry voice and sing," the first verse and the title of the song known as the black national anthem or the negro national anthem.

 

When it was over, she had melded the melody of "The Star Spangled Banner" with the lyrics to "Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing."

 

Marie told a local TV news station in Denver that she kept her idea to switch songs a secret until the very last moment, only revealing her plan to her husband and a friend. "When I decided to sing my version, what was going on in my head was: 'I want to express how I feel about living in the United States, as a black woman, as a black person,'" Marie told 9NEWS.

 

City Council member Charlie Brown took issue with Marie's performance and publicly criticized the absence of the national anthem at the event, 9NEWS reported. "There is no substitute for the national anthem, period," Brown said.

 

"This is the State of the City address. It's not an NAACP convention," Brown was quoted in the Rocky Mountain News.

 

In a statement released Tuesday evening, Hickenlooper said: "I'm disappointed that this matter has been a distraction from the great work and significant accomplishments of our city employees over the past year and the many important initiatives on tap for the coming year."

 

In an interview with the Rocky Mountain News, the mayor said that he spoke to Marie after the ceremony and she apologized, although the paper quoted her as saying she had no regrets and would do it again.

 

The lyrics to the Black National Anthem are as follows...

 

LIFT EV'RY VOICE AND SING

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.

 

[NorthSideSox72]

Classless thing to do, IMO. Maybe even a bit insulting. Hopefully she isn't invited back for that sort of thing, anywhere, again.

 

[EvilMonkey]

I hope she wasn't paid for that gig.

[CrimsonWeltall]

City Council member Charlie Brown took issue

 

Good grief that was a bad decision.

[Texsox]

It's art and should be challenging and make you think.

 

Wrong place and time.

[EvilMonkey]

If I had actually been in the audience, I would have been outraged. Nothing faux about it.

[jackie hayes]

Good grief that was a bad decision.

So help me God, I actually laughed at this.

[knightni]

So help me God, I actually laughed at this.

 

HAHA!

 

I just got the joke!

 

(I'm slow. )

[Texsox]

If I had actually been in the audience, I would have been outraged. Nothing faux about it.

But it gives everyone a chance to talk about race relations and the history of blacks in America. Gee, we can holler n***** in a public park, but this is wrong?

[Y2HH]

But it gives everyone a chance to talk about race relations and the history of blacks in America. Gee, we can holler n***** in a public park, but this is wrong?

 

Yea, exactly.

 

All of this racist America crap is old already, can we please move on already?

[ChiSox_Sonix]

City Council member Charlie Brown took issue with Marie's performance and publicly criticized the absence of the national anthem at the event, 9NEWS reported. "There is no substitute for the national anthem, period," Brown said.

 

"This is the State of the City address. It's not an NAACP convention," Brown was quoted in the Rocky Mountain News.

 

[lostfan]

There is no substitute for the national anthem - so please, stop shoving God Bless America down my throat.

 

FWIW, at school, we used to sing the national anthem and THEN sing the black national anthem immediately afterwards (my school was 99% black). Not together, nobody would've ever thought of doing that.

[bmags]

There is no substitute for the national anthem - so please, stop shoving God Bless America down my throat.

 

FWIW, at school, we used to sing the national anthem and THEN sing the black national anthem immediately afterwards (my school was 99% black). Not together, nobody would've ever thought of doing that.

 

 

REE MIX