Sing The Whole (National Anthem) Song

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry continues his crusade to make it mandatory for athletes to be present during the presentation of the national anthem at the start of athletic activities, not just in Louisiana but across the nation. The Lady Tigers of the LSU women's basketball team were not present during the playing of the anthem prior to their Iowa Elite 8 matchup, which drew the ire of Landry. Though Kim Mulkey's team was doing what it had done on previous occasions, going through their pre-game rituals, this particular instance prompted Landry to speak out. Instead of handling things diplomatically, perhaps the governor saw an opportunity to divert attention briefly away from his power control grab in Baton Rouge and took to the national stage. A statement from LSU's athletics department informed Landry that this wasn't the first time a team wasn’t present for the anthem. The diplomatic approach would have been to have a spokesperson reach out to LSU representatives privately and iron out any "policy" differences regarding where teams should be before the start of an athletic contest. That should have been the end of it. Not for Landry, who seems determined to "bring" us together, whatever that may mean. Perhaps singing the whole song will bring us together. To say that what he is doing is about "traditions and consistencies" and that without either, we "remain" consistently divided is not exactly true. The nation has been divided long before the national anthem became official. Segregation didn't bring us together but kept us divided. The governor, as a lawyer, knows that. He also knows that the tenor of our political discourse over the decades has further divided us. We might all stand for the playing of the national anthem in a "show of unity", but as soon as the event is over, many of us go back to our divided ways of life in this nation. Even when someone is asked to sing the song before an event, one can't help but notice that only one verse of the song is always sung. Perhaps Gov. Landry could explain why, if the song is one that seeks to unite us before the world, then sing it in its entirety. Those who read the entire lyrics to the song know that there are passages that say nothing about bringing people together. Who can imagine an individual whose ancestry goes back to the slave ships and the plantations of whips and chains singing lyrics that say "no refuge could save the hireling and the slave from the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave"?

Sing the whole song.

In Landry's world, it's "be present or lose that scholarship". It is not a matter of disrespecting the flag, as Landry says it is. The flag is displayed in numerous public settings, including at athletic events. The governor also knows that what he is trying to do will not "bring people" together any more than they already are. It's not about patriotism but a First Amendment fight (political) on an issue to divert attention from the problems that the state faces with no long-range solutions in sight from the legislative session. Words, whether in a song or a speech, matter. Sing the whole song. It's not going to happen.