This weekend I was listening to Don Lemon’s, Silence is Not an Option (CNN) about the history of the song, Life Every Voice and Sing, also known as the Black National Anthem. Minutes into the podcast the song rose through my speakers. I was shocked to realize I had sung it many times as a member of a Unitarian Fellowship. I loved it and felt so uplifted every time I sang it. I was also ashamed that I did not know its roots. Ashamed that its roots were not lifted up and celebrated among the largely White congregation, in my (then) largely White Midwest town. Yet another appropriation of Black culture…
another betrayal.
So, let me now lift my voice about this song, this hymn, written in 1900 by James Weldon Johnson. One hundred and twenty years later, it has not lost its power. No matter the genre of music that bubbles up from America’s Black community from ragtime to jazz to fusion to bebop to hip-hop to rap — the power of this hymn and its message remains. No matter who sings it, from the Howard University Gospel Choir to Aretha Franklin to Davey Yarborough and Ester Williams to Alicia Keyes, at its heart is…
resilience and perseverance.
Senator James Clyburn (D-South Carolina) has introduced HR 301 — a proposal to make Lift Every Voice and Sing our national hymn. Of course, we have our national anthem. But a national hymn is quite another thing. A hymn suggests a spiritual bond, something beyond nationalism. It suggests soulfulness — a healing that can unite us as one people. I find this a very compelling proposal to help make our nation whole — to make visible Black culture…
to lift every voice.
My role as a White woman working to help facilitate change with GROW-a DEI consultancy, is not lost on me. I constantly question how best to use my whiteness and my knowledge of one industry — advertising — and my 20+ years of research on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion within advertising to lead agencies forward. Hearing this song made me see my place anew. My work is about lifting every voice. Not just one voice. Not just Black voices. Not just White voices. To lift every voice…
is on all of us.
Jean Grow
#GROWdei #LifeEveryVoice #diversityofdiversity #diversiytequalsdiversity