The NFL is considering playing the song known at “the Black National Anthem” before the league’s games during the first week of the season, a source tells ESPN.com.
The song, “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” would be played prior to the “Star Spangled Banner” at stadium should the league restart games as scheduled the week of September 10th.
“Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” was written and composed by brothers James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson in 1899, and it was performed in public for the first time in 1900 by students at a segregated Jacksonville, FL school on the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started a protest to bring attention to racial inequities in the US justice system by kneeling during the pre-game playing of the National Anthem during the 2016 season.
He was cut by his team, but many other players subsequently took up the action. Kaepernick later came to a settlement with the league after accusing NFL owners of colluding to keep him off the field. He’s reported tried out for the Los Angeles Chargers this offseason.
Since then, the NFL has upped its game in respecting player protests and assisting in social justice programs, committing $250 million to such programs over the next ten years.