Blog Beat: The 'Star Spangled Banner' Goes Black

It sounded nice, and in a different forum I might have thought it was a great interpretation. However, to do so in such a manner was just obnoxious. The people who invited her trusted her and she betrayed him. What is worse is that it was just a symbolic action. Nothing was even gained from it.

Sent by Brandon Whitney | 12:04 PM | 7-10-2008

We have got to get past these "two Americas", if we are ever going to be One America. I understand that the Black National anthem had a purpose, and maybe still does to some degree; however; I believe that substituting it when asked to sing or perform the actual Anthem of the United States, is a bit presumptuous.

Sent by DJ Black Adam | 12:39 PM | 7-10-2008

Rene Marie's rationale for combining the two anthems is sound and the result is though-provoking. It's an interesting effort to bring races together (not drive them apart.) And doing so no more impugns her patriotism than Jimi Hendrix's guitar instrumental at Woodstock does.

I think the ideal venue for her wonderful experimentation of anthems would have been on an album or in a live show where it's understood that she has final say of her set.

Where Ms. Marie did err is in failing to fulfil the terms in which she was hired. She was hired to one thing, she did another without telling anyone of her intents. That's highly unprofessional.

Sent by B. Serum | 6:48 PM | 7-10-2008

love it, love it, love it. The American National Anthem is VIOLENT. IT is warmongerish. I HATE IT. I NEVER ACKNOWLEDGE IT. ITS LYRICS DO NOT SPEAK TO, INDEED are at the EXPENSE of ALL NOn-white peoples. It swallows Crispus Attics (sp?)into a larger WHITE narrative, when PAUL REVERE's art tells us that he, a Black person, was among THE VERY FIRST TO DIE at the Boston Massacre. So, if this sister's rendition INCLUDES, RATHER THAN EXCLUDES, BLACK, BROWN, and NATIVE PEOPLES' experiences. What, to Black people, (I am thinking of Frederick Douglass's 4th of July Speech) IS THE NATIONAL ANTHEM, but a thing that reminds them, when it is sung, more than any other time in a day, HOW INVISIBLE they are and how marginal their contributions to this society continue to be. She should put it on disk and sell it on EBAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sent by massai | 7:09 PM | 7-15-2008

She sang it.Its what she felt.However,she does not speak or sing for the majority black population,

Sent by MiMi en N.VA | 3:01 PM | 7-16-2008