“Lift Every Voice and Sing” Performance Before Seahawks-Patriots Opener Draws Mixed Reactions Online
The Mwango Sisters Performed the Song at Lumen Field Before Seattle Opened Its 2026 Season Against New England
The Seattle Seahawks’ 2026 season opener featured more than football, as one of the pregame musical performances quickly became a subject of discussion among viewers.
The Mwango Sisters, a vocal trio from Washington state, performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing” at Lumen Field before the Seahawks faced the New England Patriots on September 9, 2026.
The Seahawks officially featured the sisters as part of the pregame program and later published video of their performance.
The song is widely known as the Black national anthem, although “The Star-Spangled Banner” remains the official national anthem of the United States.
Inside Lumen Field, the performance was met with applause.
Online, however, reactions extended beyond the sisters’ vocals and into a continuing debate about the NFL’s use of the song during prominent league events.
The Mwango Sisters Are a Washington-Based Vocal Trio
The group consists of sisters Malaika, Chileshe and Temweni.
The Seahawks described them as a sister trio from Puyallup, Washington, who share an interest in music, musical theater and performing together.
For the season opener, they were given the responsibility of performing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” before kickoff.
The game marked Seattle’s Week 1 matchup against New England and took place at Lumen Field.
The Seahawks also had another prominent musician involved in the pregame ceremonies.
Pearl Jam founding member and guitarist Mike McCready performed “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The Two Songs Were Part of the Pregame Program
The presence of both songs is important to understanding the discussion that followed.
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” did not replace the official U.S. national anthem.
Both were included in the pregame ceremonies.
McCready handled the national anthem, while the Mwango Sisters performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
For some viewers, the combination represented a familiar part of the NFL’s recent approach to major games.
For others, it renewed questions that have followed the league since it began prominently incorporating “Lift Every Voice and Sing” into its programming several years earlier.
The Online Response Was Divided
Some viewers focused primarily on the performance itself.
They praised the sisters’ harmonies, voices and delivery.
Others viewed the moment through the broader debate surrounding the NFL’s pregame traditions.
Some critics questioned why the league continues to feature a song commonly described as the Black national anthem when the United States already has an official national anthem.
Supporters, meanwhile, viewed the song as a meaningful recognition of Black history and culture rather than a replacement for “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The different reactions reflected a debate that has accompanied the NFL’s use of the song since 2020.
The NFL Began Featuring the Song During Week 1 in 2020
The practice did not begin with the Seahawks’ 2026 opener.
In 2020, the NFL announced that “Lift Every Voice and Sing” would be played before all 16 Week 1 games.
It was included as part of a broader group of league initiatives connected to racial equality and social justice.
The league was responding during a period of widespread national demonstrations and conversations about racism, policing and inequality.
The NFL also introduced other initiatives during that period, including helmet decals and on-field messaging.
The 2020 Decision Came During a Major Shift for the NFL
The league’s relationship with racial-justice demonstrations had already generated years of controversy by that point.
Player protests during “The Star-Spangled Banner” had become one of the most contentious issues surrounding professional football beginning in 2016.
By 2020, the NFL publicly acknowledged that it had not listened sufficiently to players raising concerns about racism and police brutality.
Its Week 1 initiatives that season were intended to give those issues greater visibility.
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” became one of the most recognizable parts of that effort.
The Song Has a History That Predates the NFL by More Than a Century
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” did not originate as a professional sports tradition.
James Weldon Johnson wrote the words as a poem around the turn of the twentieth century.
His brother, John Rosamond Johnson, composed the music.
The song subsequently developed a significant place in Black American history and became widely associated with the civil rights movement.
Over time, it became commonly known as the Black national anthem.
That description reflects its cultural and historical significance rather than an official designation replacing the United States national anthem.
Its NFL Use Has Continued to Generate Different Interpretations
Supporters of featuring the song have described it as a way of acknowledging Black history and experiences within a league in which many players are Black.
From that perspective, performing the song alongside other patriotic ceremonies provides an additional moment of recognition without replacing the official anthem.
Critics have taken a different view.
Some argue that using a song described as a separate national anthem unnecessarily divides Americans into different groups.
Others simply believe professional sporting events should use only “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Those disagreements resurfaced following the Mwango Sisters’ performance in Seattle.
Even the NFL’s 2020 Initiative Was Not Universally Supported by Players
Debate over the league’s approach has never divided neatly between players and fans.
When the NFL introduced its Week 1 social-justice programming in 2020, Miami Dolphins players announced that they would remain in their locker room during both “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” before their opening game.
The players argued at the time that symbolic gestures were insufficient without meaningful action addressing the underlying issues.
The episode demonstrated that criticism of the NFL’s approach came from multiple directions.
Some believed the league was doing too much.
Others believed symbolic performances did not go far enough.
Six Years Later, the Debate Has Not Completely Disappeared
The Seahawks’ 2026 opener demonstrated how quickly a musical performance can become part of a much larger cultural discussion.
For spectators inside Lumen Field, the Mwango Sisters were part of a substantial season-opening presentation.
For people watching and commenting online, the performance also became an opportunity to revisit questions about tradition, representation and the role of professional sports in social issues.
Some viewers separated those questions from the singers themselves and praised the trio’s performance regardless of their opinion about the NFL’s decision to include the song.
Others focused almost entirely on whether “Lift Every Voice and Sing” should continue to have a place in NFL pregame ceremonies.
“The Star-Spangled Banner” Was Still Performed
One detail can easily become obscured when discussions focus on the phrase Black national anthem.
The official U.S. national anthem was also part of the Seahawks’ pregame program.
Mike McCready performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” before kickoff.
That means the Mwango Sisters’ appearance did not replace the national anthem.
Instead, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was an additional performance within the broader pregame ceremony.
That distinction has been central to the NFL’s approach since it first incorporated the song into Week 1 programming.
The Seahawks Publicly Featured Both Performances
The team’s official coverage documented both musical moments from the opener.
The Seahawks published the Mwango Sisters’ rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and McCready’s national anthem performance as separate videos.
The team’s gameday materials also identified the Mwango Sisters as the performers selected for “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
The performances were part of a larger opening-night event at Lumen Field.
The Game Itself Marked Seattle’s 2026 Season Debut
The Seahawks hosted the Patriots on September 9 for Week 1 of the regular season.
Seattle entered the evening with several ceremonies surrounding the beginning of its new campaign.
Along with the musical performances, the Seahawks unveiled their Super Bowl LX championship banner.
Former Seahawks star Richard Sherman also participated in the traditional raising of the 12 Flag.
The Mwango Sisters’ appearance was therefore one element of a much larger celebration surrounding Seattle’s return to regular-season football.
But Their Performance Became a Talking Point of Its Own
Online discussion showed that “Lift Every Voice and Sing” continues to carry meanings that extend far beyond a few minutes of music before kickoff.
For supporters, hearing the song at an NFL game can represent recognition of an important part of American history.
For critics, its continued use raises questions about whether sporting events should feature a song commonly described using the language of a separate national anthem.
Those positions reflect different interpretations of what the performance represents.
They do not change the basic facts of what happened in Seattle.
The Mwango Sisters Sang One Song and Mike McCready Performed the Official Anthem
The Mwango Sisters performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
Mike McCready performed “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Both were part of the Seahawks’ season-opening ceremonies against the Patriots at Lumen Field.
The sisters received praise for their singing, while the NFL’s decision to continue featuring the song generated renewed criticism and support online.
That combination of musical appreciation and cultural disagreement has followed the league’s use of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” since its high-profile introduction to Week 1 programming in 2020.
The Performance Renewed a Familiar NFL Conversation
Six years after the league first featured “Lift Every Voice and Sing” across its opening-week schedule, the debate surrounding the song remains unresolved.
Some fans see its inclusion as a meaningful acknowledgment of Black American history.
Others believe one official national anthem should be sufficient at sporting events.
The Seahawks’ 2026 opener provided another example of those perspectives appearing side by side.
What was clear was that the Mwango Sisters had been selected to perform the song as part of an official Seahawks pregame program, while “The Star-Spangled Banner” remained part of the ceremony as well.
The sisters’ performance lasted only a few minutes.
The conversation surrounding it lasted considerably longer.