Many Americans have followed legendary National Football League backup quarterback par excellence Colin Kaepernick’s lead in protesting and generally finding offensive the venerable US national anthem The Star Spangled Banner. Sadly, what had long been seen as a symbol of Americans’ unity has become for some, divisive.

Thus, in an effort to improve unity among its fans and citizens writ large, for this season the NFL added the “black national anthem” Lift Every Voice and Sing before games. However, as most Americans had never heard or even heard of this song – including most black Americans – its unifying effect has been less than what was hoped.

But Americans are a resilient people, and in the past month sports stadiums across the country have echoed with impromptu chants of “Let’s Go Brandon”, in honor of a NASCAR junior-series racecar driver who a few weeks ago achieved his first ever win. The crowd at that event was clearly heard singing his name over and over.

Interestingly, in fact, stadium crowds across America had already been booming out this chant for several weeks prior to young Brandon’s first win. Surely this positive energy must have reached him and helped spur him on to success.

This chant – which can now only be termed a national movement, with accompanying hats, shirts, banners, and airplane sky-writing – has become incredibly widespread, heard at sporting events of every size, as well as virtually any crowd gathering of any kind right down to a backyard barbecue. The NFL has taken note of this and announced that since the chant will be heard at all of its games anyway, it will officially embrace Let’s Go Brandon as a third national anthem at all venues. It has grown so much in popularity and obvious unifying power that unlike the other two anthems, Let’s Go Brandon will likely be heard over and over throughout entire events.

Image Credits – original unmodified “orange and blue” crowd: Rhett Maxwell (cc-by-sa-2.0); original unmodified “Camp Randall Stadium” crowd: Ohsuch181 (GNU Free Documentation License); original unmodified “Yankee Stadium crowd”: Donald Riesbeck Jr.