AFP/Getty Imagesįrom the Black Power Salute to Colin Kaepernick: What's changed? At left is Peter Norman of Australia who took second place. (FILES) US athletes Tommie Smith (C) and John Carlos (R) raise their gloved fists in the Black Power salute to express their opposition to racism in the USA during the US national anthem, after receiving their medals 17 October 1968 for first and third place in the men's 200m event at the Mexico Olympic Games. "Forty years after Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists in a civil rights gesture on the Olympic medal stand in Mexico City, protests on the podium could make a comeback in Beijing.". Perhaps Knight is hoping to tap into that spirit at a time when some might believe that racial tensions are as pronounced as they were during the black protest movement of the 1960s. When Aretha Franklin sang songs like “Respect” and “Spirit in the Dark,” the sounds resonated well beyond the churches that cultivated her talents.
As the record label’s founder, Berry Gordy, described it, Motown wasn’t the sound of black America, but “the sound of young America,” as the phrase appeared on every one of Motown’s albums and singles.
Back then, soul was a sound that closed the racial divide in the country. She emerged at a time when soul music wasn’t just a channel on satellite radio or a playlist for the parents of millennials. Knight came to prominence in the 1960s as the lead vocalist of Gladys Knight and The Pips, recording during the first part of her career for the Motown label, which marks its 60th anniversary this year. In my view, Knight is driven not by the desire for some late career resurgence, but by the traditions that produced her. Knight has long been committed to social causes such as the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), the Children’s Diabetes Foundation, and AIDS research, appearing on the classic single “That’s What Friends Are For” (1986) with Elton John, Dionne Warwick and Stevie Wonder. The 74-year-old “Empress of Soul” and Georgia native issued a statement saying, “I’m proud to use my voice to unite and represent our country in my hometown of Atlanta.” There will be those who will look cynically at Knight’s decision, but in a career that has spanned 60 years, she will have access to the largest audience of her career. There are perhaps myriad reasons why Knight chose to perform at this year’s Super Bowl. Finally, three weeks after word of Scott’s performance was first reported, he and former Outkast member (and Atlanta native) Big Boi were confirmed as halftime performers with Maroon 5.Mark Anthony Neal Megan Morr/Duke Photography Their performance was not confirmed until this past Sunday, sources say, because Maroon 5 struggled to find artists of color to perform with them and appearing at the Super Bowl amounts to an endorsement of the NFL’s policies and its treatment toward Kaepernick in particular. The Super Bowl halftime performance has been f raught with controversy since word of Maroon 5’s performance first leaked to the media in September. Sources close to both men told Variety that the conversation was cordial and respectful, although the two did not necessarily agree. Late Tuesday Variety broke the news that Kaepernick and rapper Travis Scott, who will perform with Maroon 5 at halftime during the Super Bowl, spoke and shared their views before Scott officially announced his performance. I pray that this National Anthem will bring us all together in a way never before witnessed and we can move forward and untangle these truths which mean so much to all of us.” “No matter who chooses to deflect with this narrative and continue to mix these two in the same message, it is not so and cannot be made so by anyone speaking it.
#Gladys knight national anthem kaepernick free
3 to give the Anthem back its voice, to stand for that historic choice of words, the way it unites us when we hear it and to free it from the same prejudices and struggles I have fought long and hard for all my life, from walking back hallways, from marching with our social leaders, from using my voice for good - I have been in the forefront of this battle longer than most of those voicing their opinions to win the right to sing our country’s Anthem on a stage as large as the Super Bowl LIII.
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