The Song of the Unsung

When Tommie Burton steps onto the ice before every Kraken home game, he’s not just singing the national anthem, he’s singing a song his mother started to write decades ago.

Tommie’s mother Patricia Burton grew up in Memphis, TN during the segregation era. She and Tommie’s father lived under Jim Crow laws that disenfranchised the Black community and imposed restrictions on access to public resources and spaces. Living through those inequities motivated Patricia to join the Civil Rights Movement.

“In her early days, she did sit-ins and lunch counter protests and things of that nature,” Tommie said. “There would be times when we would watch CNN, and they were airing documentaries on the Civil Rights Movement and on Martin Luther King Jr. and she would give me the background story.

“She told me about being at his ‘Mountain Top’ sermon at Mason Temple in Memphis the night before he was assassinated. She said it was a stormy night, and the church was at capacity with standing room only. She said as he delivered the sermon, she saw he was giving all he had, and that on some level he was prophesying his own end.

"Other people would also appear within a documentary, and she would say, ‘I know her,’ and ‘I know him,’ and ‘I remember when.’”

Patricia didn’t see herself in those films, but you could see her impact. Working with the NAACP, Patricia was part of the volunteer force that handed out the now iconic “I Am a Man” signs during the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike of 1968. “She carried them on the city bus on her way to the march and handed them out when she arrived,” Tommie said.

“There is significant work that is involved (in the fight for equal rights), and a lot of it is silent work,” Tommie said. “It's work that happens behind the scenes that people don't really know about, like your unsung heroes.

“(My mom) would be considered an unsung hero in that what would be considered small efforts over time made a big difference and made a big impact on people broader than she could ever reach. And I think that when we look at our personal lives, regardless of our backgrounds, we all have the capacity to do that and to make a positive difference in someone else's life.”

Just as Patricia’s efforts were notes in the anthem for equality, Tommie reminds us every person’s song has many notes as well.

While Kraken fans know Tommie primarily for his incredible voice, his life experience has been vast.

Tommie moved to Seattle during his high school years. Following in the footsteps of many family members before him, he felt called to serve in the military. The summer before his senior year, he enlisted in the Army Reserves under the delayed entry program and after attending school during the week, on the weekends, he’d put on his uniform to serve in a chemical detachment unit out of Fort Lawton.

Once out of high school, Tommie spent three more years in the Army as a chemical operations specialist where his job was to support decontaminating troops and equipment from nuclear, chemical, and biological agents. During that time he also embarked on his college education which led to a career in accounting that he still enjoys today.

Outside of his professional responsibilities, Tommie has run marathons (including qualifying for Boston!), collected vinyl records, and of course, nurtured his singing abilities.

“We are dynamic people,” Tommie said. “We have the capacity to do multiple things and – forgive the pun – the ability to sing more than one note, to sing in more than one key. I think it's healthy to be able to explore these varying facets of your identity.”

And of course, it was song that brought Tommie to the Seattle Kraken. During the team’s inaugural season, the Northwest African American Museum’s Cultural Ensemble (ACE), a group that Tommie is part of, was invited to sing the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice,” at a game. When asked to pick one of their members to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Tommie was everyone’s choice.

From there Tommie was asked to audition in the off-season for a recurring role with the team which he got, and last summer he was named as the Kraken’s sole anthem singer based on his talent and the fan reaction to him game in and game out.

When Tommie steps onto the ice before every game, 17,151 voices rise up in cheers as they see his infectious smile and enthusiastic wave to the crowd.

“Over time, I just began to notice the tremendous amount of love that was coming from the fans,” Burton said. “I just began to hear this incredible roar. It is so heartening to be able to contribute something that has an impact on other people in a very positive way. I'm just so grateful for the love that comes to me, and I hope that the fans feel it as I give it back.”

But it’s about more than singing a song or cheers from the crowd for Tommie. One of the things that connected him to the Kraken was the organization’s focus on inclusivity. It’s something he tries to feed through every anthem he sings.

“In my work life and other spaces, I am accustomed to working in places where people don't look like me,” Tommie said. “But one of the things that I learned is how to build common ground despite those differences. My hope is that my work is contributing to bringing us together and to build that connection across differences. With the anthem, it's universal work. It's work that resonates with people of all backgrounds.”

Universal work - a lesson learned from his mother. Whether it’s handing out protest signs or singing a song, its steps by individuals “that push us forward,” Tommie said.

And push us forward Tommie does. He is one of just three Black anthem singers in the NHL, and hockey is a sport that historically trended towards more white affluent communities, and the song he sings each game night is of a nation that his mother, who passed away in 2008, and many others had to challenge for equal rights just a few generations ago.

When asked if that is something he is cognizant of as he stands in the spotlight at Climate Pledge Arena, Tommie is thoughtful.

“At the heart of Black Americans has always been a strong sense of patriotism,” Tommie said. “When you look at Black American lineage, we have deep roots in the formation of our country. Crispus Attucks, who was a Black American was the first person to die in the American Revolution. Within Black American heritage, military service has always been paramount, this need to serve, and it's very heartening when you look at the many Black Americans who have served their country, even in times of not having full civil rights, but they served with a hope and a faith in their country.

“So, I would say that as a Black American delivering the anthem, I am paying honor to a country that I love. I'm paying an honor to a country where Black Americans have made tremendous strides and have made tremendous contributions, and these were our efforts to build in a country that we believed in. At the heart of the Black American Journey is patriotism, because everything that we've done, from our food to our music, is American. I love my country, and it is a great pleasure to sing the anthem. And in singing the anthem, I'm celebrating my own personal heritage and the American heritage, and we're doing it together as one country.”

Somewhere, an unsung hero named Patricia Burton couldn’t be more proud. And she’s probably singing along with her son.