Let us say right up front that we don’t get it. Yeah, she added a few flourishes here and there that vary from the original, but jeez, we’ve heard a lot of singers do a lot worse things to the National Anthem. Roseanne Barr comes to mind.
Here’s the story from Yahoo News:
An Indiana school district that told a black teenager to perform “The Star-Spangled Banner” in a “traditional way” after receiving complaints about her performance is drawing questions now about whether the complaints and directive were racially motivated.
Shai Warfield-Cross, 16, has performed the national anthem at sports events at Bloomington High School North over the last year without incident. But school officials said they received complaints about her performance during a game in Martinsville.
Principal Jeff Henderson told The Herald-Times in a statement that people had complained that while the words to the anthem were the same, the tune was unrecognizable. He declined to comment to The Associated Press.
Here the part we really hate. Note that the first paragraph of the story pointed out that Shai is black. And this following paragraph will point out that the complaint came from a town that is “predominately white.”
Some who complained after the game in Martinsville – a predominantly white community about 30 miles southwest of Indianapolis – also said they felt the rendition was disrespectful to current and former members of the military, Henderson said.
It doesn’t say that the complaint came from a white person. It doesn’t say that the complaint said that Shai’s rendition was “black.” In fact, there’s nothing in the story to suggest that the complaints had anything to do with race except that Shai is black and the complaint came from the ominously-categorized “predominately white” town.
Well, you know what that means. The complaint must be raaaacist!
Warfield-Cross’ family says athletics director Jen Hollars told the teen last Friday that she would not be allowed to sing the anthem unless she modified her version and sang in a more traditional way. Hollars declined to comment and referred questions to Henderson, who said school officials told Warfield-Cross the performances should be more “traditional” to ensure the song’s tune is recognizable.
Our take: Whoever complained is a horses’s ass. The principal is a horse’s ass. The athletic director is a horse’s ass. And whoever wrote Yahoo story and inserted the racial angle is a horse’s ass.
We’re also horses’ asses, but that a completely different story.
H/T: KimmyQueen
This post was last modified on January 26, 2021
View Comments (41)
I just watched Shai's rendition. I still recognized the song. At least she was still in the ballpark, er, basketball court with the notes. But I agree with the aforementioned posts. Personal "artistic" interpretations suck and they need to stop.
I have a question... Do we have a true representation of the true way the song should be song? Is there someone that did it perfectly as per the wishes of the original people that were part of the whole thing? I guess what I am trying to figure out.... Are we all doing it right when WE sing it at ballparks or whatever? The music is great without lyrics... and I have heard different musical (sans lyrics) representations as well from different band leaders. I just dont know what people want when the people that sing it do it right. By do it right I mean they don't forget the words, or fumble or mumble and so on...
I mean Christina Aguilera is a PROFESSIONAL singer and she COMPLETELY blew it! Yet this little girl didn't fumble nor mumble yet there is a problem... I don't understand.
I'm waiting to hear people complain about the way Christina Aguilara sang the National Anthem.
Let me be the first... Her performance was as over emoted as an American Idol auditioner's and she forgot the words.
Good point.
I tried to reserve misjudgement on the issue... Although there is always a possibility that it may have been racially motivated (on the part of the school and town), and that it could be a mixture of that with something else (people being tone deaf perhaps)... I felt that if anything the story in of itself was stating something was there when in reality we cannot know if it was or not. That is the problem with the media today, especially online sources. A lot of it is assumptions and innuendo based on the appearance. Since they wouldn't comment further, I cannot know what the real reasons were, if indeed there are real reasons beyond what they already stated. The media loves to inflame this type of thing.
I don't know for real I have no idea why this was so bad enough to engender complaints. I have never sang the national anthem in this fashion. I have sang it in a group. We all have varying degrees of good and varying degrees of bad and in the middle and we all tried to keep it as it was supposed to be but everyone is not the same (!) everyone will have their voices trying to match the music which is difficult especially since not everyone knows the words. The girl KNEW THE LYRICS... and she knew the music. Seriously her rendition wasn't... "traditional"? And what does THAT mean in the end?
I will have to agree overall that everyone involved except the girl are buttheads, but reserve judgement on the whole racism charge as it cannot be proven.
Isn't it amazing that while conservatives never bring up race, the liberals always do? And yet we're called racist? I hate it when white and black singers flourish on theeeeeeeeeeeee laaaaannnnnnddd ooooooofff the free.
Like I said, "Screaming raaacism is the first resort of the weak minded."
It's the libtard mantra and catch phrase... They still think screaming raaacism is a boogie man that can frighten their opponents into silence, but like any word that gets used too often, it loses it's meaning or takes on a new one... in the current lexicon being called a raaacist by a libtard means you're argument is probably correct and the libtards have no leg to stand on.
Example; libtard says, "The sky is green!!!!!"
Conservative responds, "No, the sky is blue."
libtard screams, "Raaaacist!!!!!!!!!!"
Just like disagreeing with a black President means we aren't comfortable with having a black President, OBVIOUSLY, not liking how a black girl sings the anthem HAS to be about race, too! And of course, wanting to pay respects to the military who may be in the audience is totally racist, too... Darn Tea-baggers! *Rolls eyes*
I live in Indiana, and Bloomington isn't that far away. It's also a liberal hotbed of back-stabbing and global warming nutjobs, er, people. I've been to Martinsville as well. Obviously the writer has never been to the town whatsoever. Stuff like this enrages me, because these mongaloids have no clue what they're writing about. Martinsville is a mix of White, Mexican, and smatterings of other peoples. The fact that the author claims it's "predominantly" white, just proves he's out to make a racist story from nothing.
I hope he takes a long walk off a short pier.
Exactly Moudoka, Bloomington had whole neighborhoods that were like "Little Mexico", 'Little Afghanistan", "Little Nepal", "Little India", "Little Iran", etc. etc. etc. And the "White libtards" were truly back-stabbing... every one of them I ever dealt with didn't view you as a person, but rather as an asset or liability that could influence their 'Liberal Cred'... as in "My Vegan Friend", "My Tibetan Friend", "My Muslim Friend", blah, blah, blah, blah,
Not really all that bad considering she was off key has a limited range but at the end of the day was giving it her all.
I was at an event where a girl sang the SSB, and added so many flourishes that she sounded like a little boy on the edge of puberty. It was not nice. The next event, they had a more traditional rendering. If I had to hire a singer, the second would have been hired on the spot. There was no question of his talents -- if he can handle the whole range of the song, he's a good singer. The girl may have been talented, but there is no way I would have paid money for an egotistical brat to ruin whatever I wanted her to sing at.
I think people get a little tired of singers trying to outdo each other on singing our national anthem. The singers are thinking "ME, ME, ME", when it should be "U.S., U.S., U.S.". It's not racism, but a question of ego and style contending with the entire purpose of singing the anthem before events.
Hah!!! You made me think of Peter Brady singing when his voice was changing!
I blame 'ole Francis Scott Key. The racist bastard wrote the SSB in such a way that only white crackers have the ability to sing the song as written.
Seriously though, I think the screechy warbling and other superfluous vocalization have a negative effect on the somber reverence the words represent. How the hell is this racist?
He only wrote the poem that is used for the Lyrics. The melody is an Old English drinking song. It is impossible for the average person to sing and I have always felt Amercia the Beautiful a better over=all tribute to America. Plus its easy to sing.
I agree... It is almost as if the song is meant to be song while bombs are actually bursting through the air. I like the Star Spangled Banner don't get me wrong, I just see that it is impossible to require perfection or a certain way when the average citizen will not be able to achieve it or to even be completely true to the original song (all the time). The best individual efforts I think should be respected especially when they are respectful which was her case.
Agreed.
Ok... but was she screechy? was she warbly and was she superfluous in her vocalization? I seriously don't not believe that she was, I believe this whole thing was blown out, out of proportion and it was based on a non-issue. If she didn't do it PERFECTLY, she at least did it better than me and I probably think you and most of the people in this website and in that town. She wasn't offensive nor was she horrible nor did she humiliate herself nor did she do anything untoward. This impossible desire for every single (different) human being to sing the NA perfectly is in my opinion absurd. Everyone is different and have their own way to deal with the limits that the song may have on a particular voice.
Celine Dion may sing it with her style and it is still appropriate. If anything people may find it ridiculous for her to sing it though because she is Canadian. If she decides to change THE LYRICS and to change the main sounds that make the anthem ... the anthem, or to use profanity or whatever, obviously it would be disgusting and of course meritous of disgust, however I dont see why this particular rendition was criticized as she knew the lyrics, she knew the song/music and she did not profane the anthem in any way.
If she was off key a bit and tried to help herself a bit she is 16 and a raw talent I dont see the reason for the impatience.
She is just a child doing the best she could and the idiots at the school should have been helping her instead of humiliating her. A school that size doesn't have a music teacher or a chorus class? The young lady obviously wants to sing or she would not be getting up front of the crowd. Instead of criticizing they should be helping.
Agree with the both of you. Unlike her I dont have the moxie to get up and sing nor can I sing the first place. What concerns me is that this type of thing can derail the patriotic desire of children (of any color) to get up and sing.
One thing I learned from all that time around the opera singers is that the female vocal chords do not fully mature into an 'music instrument' until around the ages of 26-28. She's got time to improve with a lot of professional training and discipline.
I'm a "white cracker" and I guarentee I can't sing our national anthem any better that this child could. The whole point is I am an old cracker and my voice is what it is. This girl could, with training and practice, do so much better if all the "adults" in her life would get their head out of their collective asses and help her!
The school principle isn't a "racist" he is an over educated dipwad. The school board members are not racist, they are elected dummies whose job is to kiss the ass of the people that voted for them. And where are this childs parents? Do I see a lawsuit in the near future?
"Seriously though, I think the screechy warbling and other superfluous vocalization have a negative effect on the somber reverence the words represent. How the hell is this racist?"
Exactly... the National Anthem is song that requires and deserves the utmost amount of decorum. When singers add all the vocal canoodling of a Mariah Carey pop ditty it is devalued... and to expect that level of decorum is not raaaacist..., it's reverent... A quality free wheeling libtards will never understand... Case in point; Look at the lack of reverence they show the Constitution.
What's with all the speciest comments about horse's asses?