Kari Lake, a previous contender for the Republican nomination for governor of Arizona, expressed her disapproval of the National Football League on Thursday night as the Kansas City Chiefs were getting ready to play the Detroit Lions.
During the pregame festivities, a young choir group from the community gave a performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which is also known as the “Black national anthem.” Before singing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” this performance was given. Lake vented her frustrations on the social media platform X, which was once known as Twitter.
She commented, “I hear that the NFL is still attempting to ram this polarizing garbage down the throats of Americans. I won’t put up with it. Period. In a nutshell. The United States of America has just ONE national anthem, and that anthem does not discriminate based on race.
A image of Lake sitting down during the playing of the Black national anthem at Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Arizona, earlier this year was attached to Lake’s tweet. The game took place in January. Previously, this song has garnered criticism from Lake as well as a large number of other users on social media.
In April 2021, the rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” has previously been played before to both Super Bowl LVI and the NFL Draft. It was sung by Mary Mary before to the Super Bowl between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals that took place the year before.
As a response to the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis, the National Football League began the tradition of playing the Black national anthem prior to the start of the 2020 season. This tragedy served as a catalyst for the beginning of a countrywide movement in the United States to combat racial inequality.
It is commonly accepted that “Lift Every Voice and Sing” serves as the Black national anthem, and the NAACP has been advocating for it to be recognized in that capacity since 1917.