The Super Bowl - It Isn't About The Game
”40 Acres and a mule, this bigger than the music”
The Super Bowl is more than just a game…it is a cultural beacon for where the country is and where it might be going. So it was significant that NFL officials announced a change in their traditional end-zone message of “End Racism” to “Choose Love.” Oh, and President Trump announced that he would attend. I’m not sure the two are connected but in the sea-change of Trump’s attacks on DEI, and other major organizations rushing to shut down Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, why not?
Let me talk briefly about the game however, and get the painful part out of the way.
Being a long-time Kansas City Chiefs fan there was very little to cheer for last Sunday. My analysis…Kansas City got their butts kicked. End of analysis.
I should have seen what was coming for my beloved Chiefs when Sunday morning as I was sitting on my porch drinking my morning brew, I looked up at the timber in the backyard and saw this view. Look who came to visit:
These two eagles came to pay me a visit as if to taunt me with premonitions of what was about to happen that evening. They sat there for a long time just looking at me…at least it seemed so.
Now, I’m not superstitious, but I know a lot of athletes are. Many of them have rituals, routines, and incantations that they use to prepare for competition, and try to gain any advantage they can. I’m beginning to think they are on to something.
Okay with the outcome of the game out of the way, and the omen-laden visitation from the “Eagles” leaving me unsettled, let me turn to some things that have intrigued me about not only this Super Bowl but many other Super Bowls in the past.
Where This Is Going
Just so you know where this is going, I believe there is something culturally relevant and important in Super Bowl rituals that reveal a level of Euro-American outrage and negative reaction that should be examined. I think it will tell us a lot about ourselves and our lack of self-awareness as Euro-Americans.
First a couple of notes of explanation. I’m using the term “Euro-American” deliberately and for good reason. I have come to learn, much too late in life, that “white” is not my race and in fact there is no such thing as a “white race.” Whiteness is a construction of 17th Century colonial British America designed to separate and divide British laborers and African laborers so that they wouldn’t gang up on the rich elite who were exploiting both…some things never change, do they? (I give a full explanation of this evolution of “whiteness” in my recent book The Spiritual Journey To Antiracism.)
Therefore, I have come to use the term “Euro-American” to simply describe the point of origin for most people who have white-skin. Whiteness is not a point of origin, it is an ideology designed to create a caste system. The term Euro-American simply tells us where your ancestors originated…no caste, hierarchy or ideology needed.
Second, my comments will not suggest that if you didn’t like the half-time show, or the Black National Anthem being sung at the Super Bowl that you are a racist. I find that label to be very unhelpful especially when trying to unpack a complicated cultural phenomenon like the Super Bowl or American history for that matter.
What I will suggest is that if you are a Euro-American you would do well to reconsider condescending comments and disparaging remarks about how the Super Bowl rituals played out and try to understand what was going on. I find that most people condemn what they don’t understand and dismiss what they cannot control, especially if it triggers what I am going to call their inner white supremacist programing.
I guess that will need another point of clarification. When I refer to the “white supremacist programing” I’m not talking about someone who is racist. Most Euro Americans tend to define “racist” or “racism” as personal bad behavior, and since they don’t engage in such personal bad behavior then they can’t possibly be racist. That conversation goes nowhere.
What I mean is that Euro-Americans have grown up in a culture that centers people with white skin, gives privilege to people with white skin, prefers white skin and rewards people with white skin. It is a cultural stew in which all Euro Americans have been raised. It isn’t bad behavior it is bad upbringing by our culture. Most Euro Americans are totally unaware of it. It insidiousness is in its stealth existence.
White supremacy programming works in secret and hates to be exposed. It tells Euro Americans that it doesn’t exist, but if you ask any African American about it, they can tell you exactly how white supremacist programing works. They are recipients of its worst effects.
NFL Demographics
Back to the Super Bowl. Let’s find out how the white supremacist programming is at play in the most prestigious game in the United States.
The demographics of the National Football League should give any Euro American pause on their white supremacist programming. In 2023, the last time numbers were available, 57.5% of NFL players were African American. Euro American players made up about 25%. Given that the percentage of African Americans in the United States is roughly 14% this represents a huge gap in a positive direction.
This doesn’t suggest that the NFL is somehow a haven for African American athletes. There are discrepancies, for instance, in the number of head coaches (9.4%) and other management positions. However, the bread and butter of the league are the players and they bring in revenue to make the NFL a cool $20.5 billion a year. It goes without saying that without the African American athletes, the NFL would be little more than a side show.
Euro American Reaction #1 - The Black National Anthem
So here is where white supremacist programming enters the picture. White supremacy hates to not be the center of attention. The first “controversy” for this year’s Super Bowl was the singing of the hymn “Lift Every Voice And Sing” otherwise called the Black National Anthem. It is a beautiful song based on the poem by James Weldon Johnson.
In the early 1900s a choir of 500 schoolchildren at the segregated Stanton School, where James Weldon Johnson was principal, first performed the song in public in Jacksonville, Florida to celebrate President Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Imagine that, a song written by a Black man and sung by Black schoolchildren, dedicated to Abraham Lincoln becomes controversial.
The controversy started days before Super Bowl Sunday. Many people were calling for a boycott of the game. Why? Because they sang the Black National Anthem for a sporting event where over half the players are African American. White supremacist programing was outraged
Grammy Award-winning artist Ledisi gave her rendition of the song before the game commenced, prior to the performance of the traditional national anthem. (We’ll get to that too) The song is included in 42 different Christian hymnals, draws its inspiration from the biblical Exodus, symbolizing the journey from slavery to the freedom of the “promised land.” But even a Bible-based hymn isn’t good enough to satisfy the narcissistic nature of white supremacy.
This song has now been performed ahead of the last four Super Bowls. Alicia Keys provided a prerecorded version before the 2021 Super Bowl, Mary Mary performed it outside SoFi Stadium for Super Bowl LVI, and Andra Day delivered a live performance before last year’s game. Every time there is a call for a boycott which fortunately comes to little or nothing.
While most people celebrated the performance and welcomed the hymn into the pregame routine, there was a segment of the audience that was not happy about the song’s inclusion, asserting on X:
“only “The Star-Spangled Banner” should be played at these occasions.”
“We are all Americans, with one anthem: ‘The Star Spangled Banner'”
“There is only 1 National Anthem.”
“There is only one national anthem for ALL Americans. This is ridiculous!”
“Trump should make the ‘black national anthem’ illegal,”
“This needs to stop. There is one national anthem. Stop dividing people based on the color of their skin. Black people are Americans. They don’t need their ‘own’ anthem.”
Do you hear and see the white-centeredness and supremacy in these statements? It isn’t like the Star-Spangled Banner was left out of the ritual. It was included just as always, but to suggest that a majority African American institution such as the NFL would not include a song that is so important and meaningful to its star players is beyond reason.
There is something troublingly un-American in these ideas.
Euro American Reaction #2 - Singing The National Anthem the Wrong Way
Then there was the National Anthem (you know, the one that Euro Americans like) sung by New Orleans native John Batiste who added some jazz flair to the composition that apparently some Euro Americans didn’t care for. Here are just a few of the social media comments (reminder to myself…never read social media comments).
The white supremacist program does not take kindly to any other representation of the Star-Spangled Banner than the traditional one. The message is clear: do not try and replace our “white” (ideologically based) culture with your Black culture. Our white supremacist program will not allow it. To be a true American is to sing the song one way…the Euro American way.
Euro American Reaction #3 - The “Outrageous” Half-Time Show
The grandest ritual of the Super Bowl is of course, the half-time show. This year’s show featured Kendrick Lamar, considered to be one of the greatest rap artists of this generation. He has won multiple awards, including the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for music in 2018. My goal here isn’t to break down his performance song by song but focus more on the reaction of those who didn’t like his show. (I provide a good link at the end of this column for you to learn more about the performance)
Let me repeat at this point that I’m not going to say that if you didn’t like the show you are a racist. That is too simplistic and shallow. However, I will suggest that simply dismissing Lamar’s performance because you “couldn’t understand the words” is also simplistic and shallow. A person does not have to like rap music to appreciate the message, images, symbolism, stories and aspirations that Lamar’s show included. But a person would need to take the time to listen and try to understand. White supremacy isn’t prone to taking the time to understand another culture.
White supremacy hates what it cannot understand and cannot control. It is easier to dismiss his performance because you don’t understand it than to figure out what he was communicating in his historic half-time show. It was the most watched show ever for the Super Bowl. 133.5 million viewers tuned in. That even beats Michael Jackson’s 1993 extravaganza
How to understand Lamar’s performance? The first step is to find out what rap music is all about. It may not even be my favorite genre, but I’ve come to appreciate its artistry, poetic power, and the broader hip-hop culture it represents.
The website Contra Tiempo describes hip-hop this way:
“Hip hop culture [including Rap music] centralizes the interrogation of power- who has it? Hip hop is a revolutionary movement against white supremacy and systemic racism, it is speaking truth to power, it is of the people against the machinery of human degradation, it is the voice of rebels speaking of and to the revolution in rhythms and beats.”
Just understanding this statement will put Lamar’s performance in perspective for you. The appearance of Samuel Jackson as “Uncle Sam” who criticizes Lamar’s rap performance as “too ghetto” deliberately anticipated the reaction of the white supremacist agenda.
Jackson's Uncle Sam character is there to remind and try to enforce what the “typical Super Bowl half-time show performer” should be like, and of what certain sections of America expect. Lamar already knew a lot of people would not like his performance and uses Jackson to call them out in advance.
Then when he shifts to a more acceptable “slow song,” Luther with SZA, Uncle Sam declares “now, that’s more like it.” And gives Lamar his approval, "That's what America wants - nice and calm," But Lamar doesn’t acquiesce for Uncle Sam very long, (perhaps symbolic of the real one sitting in the stands). He goes right back into his rap repertoire
This performance was powerful and revolutionary in many ways. If you didn’t like the show because you don’t like rap music, fair enough. However, please don’t disparage the message and call to action the show encouraged. It was about resistance, not playing the game Uncle Sam’s (Euro American culture) way, and being your authentic self even when others don’t want you to.
Finally, do some self-reflection if you are a Euro American like me. Try and discover the hidden white supremacist program that you’ve been given and how it drives your visceral reaction to events like the Super Bowl rituals. Understand your inner white supremacy programing because expelling the program and re-writing it in a different way is the first step to antiracism.
Additionally, the definition of what it is to be an American needs to grow, expand, and include everyone. Is that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion? Well, that will be the topic of another column, stand by.
Do Your Homework
Here is a video that will help you discover some of the symbolism and messaging of Lamar’s Super Bowl performance. Do your homework. There is waaay more than what meets the eye or ear in this performance.
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Lots of info thanks for you part in the war to really make our country a home for all
This is a well-thought out piece that inspires me to use “Euro-American” in a consistent way. It’s based on a concrete example that many of us saw, but many of us only were vaguely aware of all of the symbolism. Thanks for putting this together.