I was 18 years old when I sang the national anthem for a group of about 20,000 people at the Marriott Center in Provo. I remember practicing for hours in the upstairs bedroom of my best friend’s apartment and deciding to change the melody of the verses to fit my low vocal range.
I wasn’t sure how it would come across, but as I belted out the last few notes on that Sunday afternoon, I felt an electric current in the air that surged through my whole body. It was a bookmark moment in my life, and I can still picture looking up into the top seats and seeing the light shining through the double doors up on the walkways and realizing that the place was absolutely silent as the audience stood, hands over hearts, for freedom and liberty and justice for all.
For a tiny moment, I felt totally united with thousands of strangers in our little corner of the world.
Ever since then, whenever I am at a sporting or entertainment event and the national anthem is being sung, the audience is asked to rise. I am always proud to stand for the American flag. But I wonder if the new movement of kneeling demonstrated by dozens of NFL and other athletes to bring awareness to racial injustice can bring a different meaning to that invitation to rise.
To rise means “to move from a lower position to a higher one.” What if that could mean opening our eyes to the problems around us and seeking ways to collectively rise above oppression?
I don’t pretend to understand the lack of equality our brothers and sisters in this country have faced, for years on end. I don’t personally see a lot of racism here in Happy Valley, USA. But I know it exists. And I know we need to stop it.
Wanting to understand the meaning behind players of the NFL taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem, I came across this quote from San Francisco 49ers player Eric Reid on sbnation.com:
“After hours of careful consideration, and even a visit from Nate Boyer, a retired Green Beret and former NFL player, we (with Colin Kaepernick) came to the conclusion that we should kneel, rather than sit … during the anthem as a peaceful protest. We chose to kneel because it’s a respectful gesture. I remember thinking our posture was like a flag flown at half-mast to mark a tragedy.”
Reid went on to say, "It baffles me that our protest is still being misconstrued as disrespectful to the country, flag and military personnel. We chose it because it’s exactly the opposite. It has always been my understanding that the brave men and women who fought and died for our country did so to ensure that we could live in a fair and free society, which includes the right to speak out in protest."
Since then, many members of the NFL have chosen to kneel as a way to bring awareness to the political issues we face as a country. It’s a way to show that we still have a long way to go before we can rise as a unified nation.
My son came home from school this week and announced that he was the first one in his class to pass off memorizing the national anthem. He sang it in front of his whole class. I was so proud of him!
I want him to understand what that means, to be able to sing the national anthem of the United States of America as a citizen; to live in a country where thousands have died so we can be free to speak out, stand up or kneel down for what we believe in; to always feel brave enough to fight hatred by creating an upward movement to lift each other above the hatred that threatens to pull us down.