Lift Every Voice and Sing

Thanks to my sister Margaret, I now know that there is an official African American national hymn or anthem. The song was written in 1900 by James Weldon Johnson for his students at Stanton School to perform in honor of a visit from Booker T. Washington on Lincoln’s birthday. These are the words those school children recited, and that since have been raised by generations of voices in song…

Lift every voice and sing,
‘Til earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the 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 ’til victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast’ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for 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,
‘Til now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright 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,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.

Personally, this anthem echoes with commitment to a nation and to its future that bombs bursting and rockets glaring fails to inspire. It conveys the power of faith and perseverance that allows one to maintain hope in spite of circumstance. I am thankful for all the women and men who have kept the steady beat.

Does our nation today represent a people more tolerant and with a greater sense of wisdom than the nation with which Dr. King shared his dream? I think in many ways, we are better. And in some ways, we are not at all improved. I have come to realize that there will always be people who prefer to surround themselves with those who are like-minded, and of similar skin tone and pedigree. They spend great amounts of time and energy to justify the maintenance of their circles of comfort. (And those circles can be found in every ethnic and social group.) We are at our worst as a nation when we allow them to become circles of influence and to act as if its reasonable to include such limited perspectives in the determination of community policy and planning.

We are at our best when we move beyond what we think we know and and that which is convenient and feels most comfortable. It is not just ethnic minorities who benefit from such perspective expansion. We all have the chance to bigger than our skin and to grow beyond any label imposed by society or self.  That is my dream. That we become become a bigger nation. That we stand up straighter and take a deeper breath that expands our capacity and gives us the stamina to do what needs to be done. Those are the qualities I hope will come naturally to my children and every child. That the burdens of life never leave them stooped and powerless. That they possess the ability to reach deep within themselves for the resources required to stand tall and walk forward. That they will sing with confidence the songs of faith and hope.

I hope that my children will take every opportunity to stretch their minds and imaginations, so that there might be more room in their spirits for all sorts of experiences and perspectives.
I hope they never succumb to the temptation to feel either superior or inferior.
I hope they always have a need for information and a sense of interest.
I hope they learn from everyone.
I hope anyone who is with them feels safe to be him or herself and leaves the company of my child feeling better for the experience.
I hope my children find more wisdom, humor and beauty in others than they feel obligated to demonstrate in themselves.
And when required to stand up for something, I hope my children are the first to leap to their feet, to take the hands of those around them and to support that which is good.

To know the good in ourselves, to see the good in one another and to do good together. That is where I hope my children, and the children of this nation, forever stand. That is my dream…that is my song, and I’m grateful to live in a nation that allows me to sing it.

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