Those who push a woke racial narrative should at least have to answer one question.

In short, if 19th- and 20th-century segregationists would have approved of it, should you?

Thursday night in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the National Football League, evidently unfazed by the broader public rejection of woke racial division, kicked off the first round of its 2025 draft with a ceremony that included a performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” commonly known as the “black national anthem,” prompting a slew of criticisms from fans on the social media platform X.

The performance itself was fine, as the following clip shows.

Members of the James Weldon Johnson Foundation’s “National Hymn Choir” perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing”. pic.twitter.com/Ri0ujrwPOQ

— NFL (@NFL) April 24, 2025

Indeed, no one objects to the song. Objections begin with the very idea of a separate anthem based on skin color.

The NFL did not frame the song as the “black national anthem.” Conduct a Google search for that phrase, however, and see what appears.

“Often referred to as ‘The Black National Anthem,’ Lift Every Voice and Sing was a hymn written as a poem by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson in 1900,” according to the NAACP.

X users recoiled from the woke display.

“NFL must stop feeding woke divisive nonsense …Why?” one user wrote.

There is only one anthem
There is only one country

NFL must stop feeding woke divisive nonsense…Why?

— Joe Brunello (@GiuseppeVent8) April 25, 2025

“So sick of this ridiculous pandering. There’s only ONE National Anthem and it represents all Americans. There is no ‘black national anthem,’” another user wrote.

So sick of this ridiculous pandering. There’s only ONE National Anthem and it represents all Americans. There is no “black national anthem.”

— Ms. Pistolicious (@mspistolicious) April 24, 2025

“Stop it NFL with the black national anthem. We reject this division. The national anthem is for ALL of us. One nation. Under God. OH SAY CAN YOU SEE,” a third user wrote.

Stop it NFL with the black national anthem. We reject this division. The national anthem is for ALL of us. One nation. Under God. OH SAY CAN YOU SEE.

— FlyNavyDawg (@HereForFootbal5) April 24, 2025

This sort of garbage played during the Black Lives Matter madness of 2020, but not anymore. Too many Americans have awakened to the Marxist evil at the core of woke racial ideology.

Events like the NFL Draft should unite fans by celebrating players and their individual stories.

Above all, however, woke racial ideologues and the NFL must address that fundamental question. If segregationists would have loved a “black national anthem,” should you promote it?

What would Martin Luther King Jr. have said about the idea of a “black national anthem”? He would have called it a brainchild of the segregationists, a diabolical offshoot of the “separate but equal” doctrine.

The time to end this segregationist nonsense has long since passed.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

The post NFL Gets Fan Backlash for Kicking Off Draft with a ‘Woke’ Stunt appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

On Saturday, April 26, the funeral service for Pope Francis will be held at St. Peter’s in Rome as world leaders gather.  Live coverage will begin at 3:00 am ET with the services expected to begin at 4:00 am.

Following the funeral, Francis’ body will be entombed at the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major.

The Vatican confirmed Monday that Pope Francis has died at the age of 88 in his residence at Casa Santa Marta, ending a controversial decade-long papacy marked by globalist overtures, divisive political stances, and growing health concerns.

Pope Francis’ death certificate, released by the Vatican, states that he passed away in his residence at 7:35 a.m. due to a cerebral stroke, followed by coma and irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse.

The document also notes several underlying health conditions, including a recent episode of acute respiratory failure caused by bilateral multimicrobial pneumonia, multiple bronchiectasis, arterial hypertension, and type II diabetes.

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania arrived in on Friday to attend the funeral.

.@POTUS and @FLOTUS arrive in Rome ahead of tomorrow’s funeral for Pope Francis pic.twitter.com/59On2HN3GE

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 25, 2025

Additional foreign dignitaries confirmed to attend include the UK’s Prince William, Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and French President Emmanuel Macron.  Additional dignitaries are expected.

Watch live beginning at 3:00 am ET:

Following a period of mourning, cardinals will gather for the papal conclave, expected to begin between May 6 and May 12, 2025, vote in secret sessions to elect the next pope.

The ballots will be burned in a special stove after each session with black smoke indicating no pope has been elected as none have reached the least two-thirds of the vote required.

When white smoke emerges, it signals that the cardinals have chosen the next head of the Catholic Church.

While many Catholics hope that the far left Francis will be replaced with a more traditional, conservative pope, of the 135 cardinal electors eligible to vote, 109 were appointed by Francis himself, comprising approximately 80% of the electorate.

This significant majority suggests that the next pope is likely to continue or even intensify Francis’s left-wing trajectory.

The post Pope Francis Laid to Rest: Watch Live Saturday, April 26 Beginning at 3:00 am ET appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.