One Anthem, One Nation: Why the Unity Debate Is Back

By MDBayNews Staff

The debate over national unity returned to the spotlight this week after conservative commentator and media executive Armstrong Williams questioned the growing practice of performing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” — often referred to as the Black National Anthem — alongside “The Star-Spangled Banner” at major national sporting events.

Williams’ argument was not about race or music, he said, but about whether America still believes in a shared civic identity.

That debate carries particular weight in Maryland, because this is where the national anthem was written.

Maryland’s Anthem, America’s Anthem

In September 1814, during the Battle of Baltimore, Francis Scott Key watched British forces bombard Fort McHenry. When the American flag still flew the next morning, Key put his words to paper. Those words became “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Maryland didn’t write a regional anthem. It produced the national one — a song meant to represent all Americans, regardless of origin, class, or background.

That historical fact is central to why some Marylanders view the current controversy not as a cultural slight, but as a fundamental question about national symbols.

History Honored — Symbols Shared

Williams acknowledged that “Lift Every Voice and Sing” emerged from a painful and specific historical period, when Black Americans were excluded from the nation’s promises. That history, he argued, should be taught, honored, and understood.

But honoring history is not the same thing as redefining national rituals.

“America has one national anthem because it belongs to all Americans,” Williams wrote. “When we introduce separate anthems at national events — even with good intentions — we move away from unity and toward permanent division.”

For critics of dual-anthem performances, the concern is not about erasing Black history, but about preserving common civic ground in a country already fractured by identity-based politics.

Maryland’s Balancing Act

Maryland is one of the most diverse states in the nation. From Baltimore City to Prince George’s County to Montgomery County, cultural pluralism is part of everyday life.

At the same time, Maryland has seen growing polarization in politics, education, and public institutions. National events — especially sporting events — have become some of the last remaining shared civic spaces where Americans of all backgrounds gather under a single banner.

For some, adding multiple anthems to those moments risks transforming unity into something conditional — negotiated rather than assumed.

The Cost of Symbolic Politics

Williams also warned that division has become politically profitable.

“The truth is uncomfortable,” he wrote. “Division has become a currency. It fuels outrage, politics, and attention, while unity demands harder work and shared responsibility.”

That critique resonates beyond ideological lines. Even some moderates and liberals have questioned whether symbolic gestures increasingly substitute for substantive policy solutions — while leaving trust and cohesion worse than before.

A Maryland Perspective

In the state where the national anthem was born, the question carries added gravity:

If the anthem written at Fort McHenry no longer represents a shared national identity, what does?

That question is not an argument against history, recognition, or inclusion. It is a challenge to the assumption that multiplying symbols strengthens unity rather than fragments it.

An Unsettled Debate

The anthem controversy is unlikely to fade. As leagues, institutions, and governments navigate an increasingly divided public, the tension between representation and cohesion remains unresolved.

But in Maryland — where the anthem was written amid war, uncertainty, and national peril — the idea of one shared song still carries historical and civic meaning.

Whether the country chooses to preserve that symbolism or redefine it will say much about how Americans understand unity in the years ahead.

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Maryland History Explainer

Fort McHenry, 1814, and the Birth of the National Anthem

In September 1814, during the War of 1812, British forces launched a massive naval bombardment against Fort McHenry, the star-shaped fort guarding Baltimore Harbor. The attack lasted more than 25 hours and was meant to break the city’s defenses after the British had burned Washington, D.C.

Watching from a ship in Baltimore Harbor was Francis Scott Key, a Maryland attorney who had gone to negotiate the release of an American prisoner. Because he had overheard British plans, Key was temporarily detained aboard a vessel during the battle.

As dawn broke on September 14, 1814, Key saw that the American flag still flew over Fort McHenry — a signal that the city had held. Moved by the sight, he wrote a poem titled “Defence of Fort M’Henry.” The poem was later set to music and became “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

More than a century later, in 1931, Congress officially designated it as the national anthem of the United States.

Why it matters:
Maryland is not just another state in the anthem debate — it is where the national anthem was written. The song emerged from a moment of national crisis and was intended as a unifying civic symbol for all Americans, not a regional, political, or demographic statement.

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