House Majority Whip James Clyburn says he will introduce a plan to name the “black national anthem” as the official hymn of the United States in order to show unity.
“To make it a national hymn, I think, would be an act of bringing the country together,” the South Carolina Democrat said this week. “It would say to people, ‘You aren’t singing a separate national anthem. You are singing the country’s national hymn.'”
Clyburn added that the gesture would be an “act of healing” that “everybody can identify with.”
The anthem, known as “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, has become increasingly popular among social justice activists following the death of George Floyd while in police custody last summer.
The National Football League chose to play both the United States national anthem as well as the black national anthem before several games earlier this season, and at least one NFL team took a knee for “The Star-Spangled Banner” while standing for “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
Michael Fauntroy, a political scientist at Howard University in Washington, D.C., pushed back against the idea that the anthem would unify the country.
“It’s symbolically notable for black people, but, in the larger scheme of things, this isn’t going to put food on people’s table. It’s not going to increase people’s pay,” Fauntroy, who is black, said about the push to elevate the black national anthem.
Fauntroy argued that black Americans could be overstating the importance of symbolic victories instead of focusing on structural changes to the political and justice system in America.
Clyburn dismissed the idea that the hymn would be symbolic, saying, “It’s a very popular song that is steeped in the history of the country.”
