In advance of Super Bowl LVIII this weekend, ambassadors with the Project 21 black leadership network are voicing their thoughts about Andra Day performing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” — often referred to as the “Black National Anthem” — during the Super Bowl pregame celebration.

Donna Jackson

Donna Jackson, Project 21 Director of Membership Development:

If the goal was to divide us, the NFL’s decision to include the singing of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” at the Super Bowl missed the mark. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was written by James Weldon Johnson for the celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on February 12, 1900.

Lincoln was a conservative, and no doubt Johnson was inspired by the bravery and courage Lincoln showed in making this country into a great nation. Lincoln refused to allow our great country to become a divided nation, and today that goal is more important than ever. During the Super Bowl, this song should cause us to reflect on the sacrifices Lincoln made to keep these United States as one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for ALL.

Michael Austin

Michael Austin, Project 21 Ambassador:

“Lift Every Voice and Sing” once served as a reminder to former slaves to show gratitude and faith to God for their freedom, but its inclusion in the Super Bowl 120 years later is less of a strategic move and more of a desperate Hail Mary to exploitation.

The NFL is shamelessly following the leftist playbook, shaming Americans for crimes they didn’t commit and victimizing Americans for injustices they never suffered. It’s a divisive play, where the only trophy hoisted will be an award of resentment and division instead of a celebration of America and a thrilling game we deserve to see.

AK Kamara

AK Kamara, Project 21 Ambassador:

The NFL has once again bowed to the pressure of Marxist racial identitarians. The “Black National Anthem” will be performed by Andra Day during the Super Bowl 58 pregame broadcast.

“Lift Every Voice and Sing” is a spiritually deep and powerful hymnal song. FULL STOP. It is NOT the “Black National Anthem.” Nations have national anthems, whereas ethnic and racial groups do not.

Performing this song as the “Black National Anthem” destroys the true beauty, meaning and power of the song. The “Black National Anthem” narrative foments racial divides and animosity.

Maybe every person opposed to this divisive racial narrative should start taking the knee any time “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is performed under the banner of the “Black National Anthem.” Now that’s not a half bad idea.

Marquita Bushrod

Marquita Bushrod, Project 21 Ambassador:

As long as the intent is pure, I am all for the NFL’s decision to have the hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the “Black National Anthem,” be sung at the Super Bowl.

While no anthem can or should ever replace the National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is an important song in the history of black Americans that is a prayer to God of thanksgiving and freedom.

The song is not being performed during the game, nor it is replacing the National Anthem; rather it will be sung during the pregame which is appropriate during Black History Month. The National Anthem will still have its rightful place immediately prior to kickoff, which is customary.

For this reason, I see no issue with the song being performed. America needs all the prayers it can get as we are fighting for our freedom every day. Bringing this song to the NFL’s biggest game of the year is a win-win in my book.

This year we’ve seen Anheuser-Busch, Target and other companies sacrifice both their bottom lines and reputations in order to be seen as woke.

Turns out that didn’t quite pan out for them.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) touts its Corporate Equality Index (CEI)  as “the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies, practices and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer employees.” For years we’ve criticized the companies that continue to kiss the HRC ring even as HRC’s polices become ever more illogical, offensive and even predatory.

This year, despite their best efforts to stay atop the rankings, it seems almost 300 companies have seen their CEI scores decline.

Members of our Free Enterprise Project team, who have been vocal opponents of HRC’s corporate manipulation, are responding to this news.

Scott Shepard

Free Enterprise Project Director Scott Shepard:

HRC was once a legitimate civil rights organization that represented the genuine interests of most gay people. Now it has become both a lunatic asylum and an unvarnished cog in the leftwing pressure conglomerate.

Its Corporate “Equality” Index reflects this, being revised every year to make ever-more-radical demands on corporations in defense of positions that harm everyone — including and perhaps especially most gays and lesbians.

Because the CEI requires companies to take — and spend shareholder money to advance — the hard-left position on matters wholly unrelated to their business purposes, a company that scores 100 percent on the CEI has proudly declared its violation of its fiduciary duties.

Any companies that aren’t seeing lower CEI scores are betraying their duty and their shareholders.

 

Ethan Peck

Free Enterprise Project Associate Ethan Peck:

HRC constantly shifting the criteria for its index is part of its modus operandi – it keeps corporations fearful of a bad score, on edge and ready to succumb to new and more radical demands.

It’s right out of the Hamas & PLO playbook: If you give them a finger, they want your hand. So then you give them your arm and they take your head. They view appeasement not as an act of good faith or attempted compromise but as weakness – as an opportunity to exploit and keep exploiting.

That’s why Bud Light couldn’t buy its way to a good score, because HRC does not have an end goal – it is prepared to keep moving the goalposts indefinitely.

 

Stefan Padfield

Free Enterprise Project Deputy Director Stefan Padfield:

Radical leftism is built upon unsustainable lies. We are told that despite all the natural diversity of individuals, we should expect equality of outcomes. We are told that despite their long history of being oppressed, Jews fall on the “oppressor” side of the oppressor-oppressed spectrum and thus may be “decolonized” by any means necessary.

And in the case of HRC, we are told that a man can become a woman simply by identifying as such.

These lies are ultimately unsustainable, but we must confront them nonetheless because of the damage they can cause before they are fully exposed.

And when it comes to corporate executives and directors, we must continue to exert pressure on them to stop placing their personal beliefs and self-interest ahead of their fiduciary duties, including by bending the knee to HRC.