Clark Atlanta Professor Timothy Askew Says "National Black Anthem" Separatist

Clark Atlanta University professor Timothy Askew says "national black anthem" separatist and they lyrics were written for everyone, not just blacks.

As if we have nothing better to worry about, Clark Atlanta University professor Timothy Askew said that the national black anthem, "Life Every Voice and Sing" is separatist. The spiritual, which is often heard in many black churches, is now under fire. He said the label of "black anthem" creates a lot of confusion and tension. Really? I would venture to say many people America, other than blacks, aren't aware of this. Thanks to Timothy Askew, this will now be on the front burner and could possibly cause the tension that he which is referring.

After studying the music and lyrics of the song and its history for more than two decades, Askew decided the song was intentionally written with no specific reference to any race or ethnicity. Askew explains his position in the new book, "Cultural Hegemony and African American Patriotism: An Analysis of the Song, 'Lift Every Voice and Sing,'" which was released by Linus Publications in June. The book explores the literary and musical traditions of the song, but also says that a national anthem for African-Americans can be construed as racially separatist and divisive. "To sing the 'black national anthem' suggests that black people are separatist and want to have their own nation," Askew said. "This means that everything Martin Luther King Jr. believed about being one nation gets thrown out the window." Source: CNN

So, I am guessing, since the "black anthem" is separatist, then the Black Expo recently held in Indianapolis is and Black Enterprise Magazine, as well as Black Entertainment Television. Believe me, I get it and that's why I changed the name of my blog to The Hinterland Gazette from Black Political Thought, still I just can't believe we are debating whether or not the name "black anthem" is separatist. The song was written by civil rights activist James Weldon as a poem in 1900.

Here are some of the lyrics to Let Every Voice & Sing:

Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening 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, till 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 hast brought us thus far on the way; 
Thou Who hast 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.