plane of the national black anthem and put things like slogan like antiracism in the end zone and allows players to wear decals or start a social justice committee inside of the nfl as their effort to corral the new consciousness that is taking place. and make sure it's expressed through acceptable parameters that they can still control. that's what it's really all about at the end of the day. it is about control. >> rate answer. >> someone also asked is this being recorded do we have a copy, yes and there will be a recording after comes out as well. there was one more question that we will do that is interesting to me, you talked about mexico and 68 as a modern era protestant sports, are there any earlier significant protest in the sports world? >> absolutely. >> this is why love sports history. it's an incredible lens to which to understand american history. politics are baked into the cake of organized sports in this country this goes back to the 19th century. it's always been political rebels in sports, gaining back to the 1800s and the reason why sports rest on a huge contradiction,

the black national anthem at the opening of the nfl game has been supported in -- or many backgrounds. what do you think was the true motivation and how do you think this movement is received by players and fans and you think this change will last? >> yeahk are you this is all about the carrot and the stick. the nfl realizes that what colin kaepernick did he opened up the limine ported over the place and you can't put it back in the bottle. he was the genie in the lamp in the nfl had to adjust to figure out how to deal the fact that it rests on the profound contradiction. you don't have the nfl without it deep labor and racial -- it has no black franchise owners and 70% of players are black and 100% injury rate. contracts are not guaranteed in the careers only three years. that's a rough set of material circumstances and a rough objective.ir it depends on the degree of vertical r authoritarian absentn making sure everybody knows their place and everybody does what they are supposed to do. here's colin kaepernick living the famous muhammad ali "he said i don't have to be who you want m

the piece was inspired by the song lift every voice and sing which had been declared the black national anthem by the naacp in 1919. here is a short clip of the song as performed by the harlem boys choir. here regardless ;? savages sculpture becomes i think a visual manifestation of that song's power. it features 12 young black singers in graduated heights taking the form of a harp. they're pressed together in community and in solidarity they're singing in surround sound with their heads turned in alternate directions the folds of their prior robes become the strings of the instrument the kneeling man at the front forms the foot pedal and the sounding board has generally been understood to represent the hand and arm of god picking up on the religiosity of lift every voice and sing particularly the third verse and transforming these 12 young singers into the instruments of god. i have come recently however to increasing really wonder whether given savages own foundational role in the harlem renaissance this could represent her hand as well. this is someone after all who made tremendous e

i traced some really interesting performances of the star-spangled banner that layer the so-called black national anthem, lift every voice and sing, written in honor of abraham lincoln in 1900 for a school in florida. it was written by james weldon johnson and set to music by his brother, and they were a songwriting team that was important in the harlem renaissance in new york. but this song lived within the community. it wasn't published, but it was known within the black church and with schoolkids for many years. it became the song of the naacp and part of their history, and has come back recently, at least to my knowledge, in the last few years. it's a song -- again, it tells a story that is similar to the star-spangled banner. it talks about the human sacrifices made by african-americans to hold the ideals of the country to account , to demand that the country live up to its ideals. god bless america is an interesting counterpoint to that. it was not considered originally as a candidate for the national anthem. usually, when people today talk to me about alternatives, they want ameri

like me" at the grammys ♪ i'm proud to be black like me >> and singing the national anthem at the past super bowl. >> as well as celebrating the release of her debut album on our own citi concert stage last fall ♪ >> along the way, there have been some impressive firsts for mickey, most recently as the first black artist to earn a grammy nomination for best country album. this morning, mickey guyton is back on our plaza, and ready to perform her new music, and some fan favorites, right here, on "today." >>> all right, guys, are we ready? all right. kicking things off with her hit "lay it on me" let's hear it for mikey guyton >> how you are guys all doing? ♪ i feel it in the air ♪ i can see through your smoke and mirrors ♪ baby, let your heart be naked ♪ i'm right here ♪ com meet me on the other side ♪ and make it rain in this burning house ♪ pouring down till the sun comes up ♪ i'm right here ♪ i want your good, your bad, your ugly ♪ i want the truth and all your lies ♪ i want you perfectl imperfect ♪ lay it on me tonigh ♪ i want the light that fills the dar