The National Basketball Association’s (NBA) All-Star Game had a significant dose of wokeness in the pregame ceremonies.
Canadian singer-songwriter Jully Black had the opportunity to sing, “O Canada” - Canada’s national anthem - before tip-off (why the Canadian national anthem was being sung at an event held in Utah, I couldn’t tell you). It should have been a standard rendition, but Black added her own progressive spin to it.
The original lyrics to the first line of the song read, “O Canada! Our home and native land!”
However, Black made a subtle yet significant change to those lyrics, singing instead, "Our home on native land.” Here’s the video:
Miss @JullyBlack your rendition of the Canadian Anthem is a moment I will never forget. So much heart, luv ya and so so proud #Nba pic.twitter.com/rMQHPWh3M8
— Sangita Patel (@sangita_patel) February 20, 2023
Why the change? According to Black, it was to support the indigenous people of Canada.
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"We’ve been singing this anthem since kindergarten. And now, in the last three years, especially with indigenous rights and what’s going on in our country and the history and the learning, I too am learning," Black explained. "So, I reached out to some indigenous friends and said, ‘First of all, how do you feel about me doing this anthem?’ And I got some feedback.”
The same guilt that progressives shove down Americans' throats for living in a country that was once occupied by "natives" - who were not actually native to either America or Canada and who also won it by conquest - is apparently just as prevalent in Canada.
And now we’re hearing about it at NBA events. Great.