The national anthem controversy currently roiling our body politic has a longer history than we may be aware of. I just ran across a story that I think provides some comically prescient insight regarding what’s really behind some (not all) of the outrage that’s been expressed in our society at the refusal of some African American football players to stand for the national anthem at NFL games.
The interesting thing about this story is that it was written almost 75 years ago during WW2. It appears in the November, 1943 issue of The Crisis, the magazine of the NAACP. The author was Chester B. Himes (1909-1984), an African American who would become a celebrated writer of detective fiction. Four of his novels, including If He Hollers Let Him Go and Cotton Comes to Harlem, were made into feature films. In 1958 he was awarded the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, France’s most prestigious award for crime and detective fiction.
Chester B. Himes
The story Himes wrote for The Crisis in 1943 was called, “All He Needs Is Feet,” and with obvious irony recounted the story of an unlucky Black man named Ward.
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