If the National Anthem Could Shed Its Own Tears, It Just Did

  It was as if the National Anthem were a living entity, and it bowed in respect to the thought that Black lives matter, it -- the National Anthem -- being in reverence to the lives of Blacks being lost across the country.
  No words were sung. No, as African-American artist Jon Batiste performed the National Anthem, he didn't sing. His performance was but an instrumental.
   How often at sporting events does that happen -- just an instrumental? In all the times the National Anthem has been performed at major league sports, how often has this happened? Was the NBA trying to make a statement here?
    "We will not be silenced"? There's a phrase repeated often in the protests. And, phrases such as this were repeated over the loud speaker audio background as the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans prepared for the first tip-off as the NBA season resumed.
   No words spoken -- just an instrumental. It was as if the National Anthem were responding, "You will not be silent? Then,  I shall be silent. I will mourn with you. If I have spoken out of turn in the past -- if, in the past, I have kept on lauding my own virtues at a moment I had let you down by not practicing those virtues, I apologize. I do care. I do grieve in the loss of your lives. If on the streets of protest you have paused in moments of silence for those who have fallen, I join you. I bow in my own moment of silence now."
  And, so the words of the Anthem went silent this night of the Jazz-Pelicans game.
  If the National Anthem could shed its own tears, it just did.

(Index: Black Lives Matter; Maybe)