"God of our weary years..."

[minoanmiss]

Speaking of racism: "MAGA Fans Are Enraged By The Black National Anthem — But They're Missing This Glaring Point

Below the cut I will post this hideous divisive song, which happens to be one of my favorites.

Video link, i think Am at work so I couldn't watch it to double check.

Lift every 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 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 day that hope
Unborn had died;
Yet with a steady Beat,
Have not our weary feet,
Come to the Place on 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 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,
Least our hearts,
drunk with the wine of The world, we forget thee,

Shadowed beneath the Hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land

Comments

[kore]

It's a beautiful poem. I remember the reverend quoting it at Obama's inauguration (first one I think).

[redbird]

That may be part of what MAGA is reacting to, if any of their memories go back 16 years.

[kore]

Oh yeah, I always say that these ppl saw a BLACK man in the WHITE house and lost their fucking minds. Literally they just went fucking nuts. (And I say that as a nutty person!) Mitch McConnell in particular.

[sage]

Damn, that is powerful! \o/

[cmcmck]

It's lovely and thank you for introducing me to it.

Here, Wales and Scotland have their own national anthems and there are good reasons for that.

[minoanmiss]

A man's a man for a'that!

[sovay]

Below the cut I will post this hideous divisive song, which happens to be one of my favorites.

Contributing Anthony Russell's Yiddish-interwoven version. (He is Black and Jewish and much of his repertoire is these intertwinings which I love.)

[lb_lee]

Wow holy crap this dude has PIPES and I'd never heard of him! Thank you so much for letting me know about him, gonna buy some of his tracks!

[sovay]

Thank you so much for letting me know about him, gonna buy some of his tracks!

You're welcome! I recommend anything/everything of his—he's also part of Tsvey Brider.

[julian]

Iiiii love this and now it will be in my head which is Just Fine. *hug*

[landofnowhere]

I <3 this song, though my experience with it is mostly singing it in very white Unitarian Universalist congregations (I too am white), which is a bit awkward in an appropriative way.

[minoanmiss]

Enh. I am not The Speaker For The Black People but I personally think it's better that people know about this than not know about this song.

[acelightning73]

I can see how some (fanatically white-supremacist) people might consider this song insulting to White people - black people singing about how badly the White people treated them. In the context of time and circumstance, this song gaves Black people hope that God would hear their prayers for freedom. But as a White person, I'm not offended - I know the context,and I know why the song still resonates. I was alive when gas-station bathrooms were labeled "Men", "Women", and "Colored". I remember a news story about a black person who was almost shot by the cops for drinking out of the "Whites Only" water fountain. And in the movie, "Hidden Figures", the woman who has to waste half an hour of her work day to walk to the only "Colored Ladies Bathroom". I'm so old I remember a time before "Civil Rights" was a thing. And I can understand songs like "Lift Every Voice" and "We Shall Overcome", against the background of pointless stupid prejudices embedded in everyday life. Everybody needs a song that lets them know that Triumph over injustice CAN happen.

And, no, idiots, this doesn't mean that all those Diverse minorities you right-wing assholes hate so much want to CONQUER America and enslave and suppress all you white people. Diversity, inclusiveness... we're all just humans, being. I'd like to "lift every voice - every skin color, language, religion, etc" - sing together that WE'RE ALL PEOPLE, and LOVE THY NEIGHBOR, and everyone on Earth is your neighbor.

Such a beautiful song!

[jesse_the_k]

I was enthralled by Imani Perry's May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem. As she follows the song from its conception to its performances at thousands of events, she documents the civil society, mutual aid, and social justice infrastructure African Americans built from the ruins of the civil war.

[sabotabby]

My students are getting it referenced every day on the morning announcements all month. :)

[flamingsword]

I think they mostly heard that Black people had their own national anthem and just lost the plot, but projection is a hell of a drug.