U S National Anthem Racist?

Mr. Pole said:
But it's my understanding that the song is indicative of everything. And being able to change the song would be another step in changing the problems.
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I mean, sure it’s indicative of everything. But changing it wouldn't change anything; just like a bandaid won’t fix a broken leg. It’s stupid to credit the NFL protests with this attempt to change the national anthem...both may be looking at racism but they aren’t the same thing.
 
Correction in my earlier post


white avenger said:
U S Presidents from Washington through Ulysses S Grant all owned slaves at one time or another.
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There were, in fact, 12 U S Presidents who at some time owned slaves, 8 while in office. Grant was the last President to have owned slaves. Ironically, Robert E Lee was opposed to slavery. The only slaves he ever owned were inherited from his father in law, and he freed them.

How Many U.S. Presidents Owned Slaves?
 
brinkster130 said:
I mean, sure it’s indicative of everything. But changing it wouldn't change anything; just like a bandaid won’t fix a broken leg. It’s stupid to credit the NFL protests with this attempt to change the national anthem...both may be looking at racism but they aren’t the same thing.
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I'm not arguing that fact either. Just that yes, the song is racist and no, it's not always been the national anthem. It was voted to be it and it can be voted not to be.
 
brinkster130
brinkster130
we’re on the same page. also, I bet a significant portion of Americans wouldn’t even notice if the national anthem was changed to America the Beautiul.
Mr. Pole said:
it's not always been the national anthem. It was voted to be it and it can be voted not to be.
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But people don't like change, of course... bottom line is, even if you see them coming, you're not ready for the big votes. No one asks for their anthem to change, not really. But it does. So, what are we, helpless? Puppets? Nah. The big votes are gonna come, you can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are.


*parts of this post may not be original content and should be read to a slow-mo running sequence
 
Taake said:
But people don't like change, of course... bottom line is, even if you see them coming, you're not ready for the big votes. No one asks for their anthem to change, not really. But it does. So, what are we, helpless? Puppets? Nah. The big votes are gonna come, you can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are.
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That really sounds a lot like Angel's little speech in Epiphany. Elements of it at least.
 
Mr. Pole said:
@brinkster130 I bet a significant portion of America thinks it IS America the Beautiful. Especially since it's sung first!
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That wouldn't work either. Both "America The Beautiful" and "God Bless America," the two most obvious choices, have references to God. If some little known, obscure, never sung verse in "The Star Spangled Banner" offends a few people, just think of the uproar having a National Anthem that refers to God would do, when there is already a movement to have "In God We Trust" removed from our currency, and "under God" removed from the Pledge of Allegiance.

Very few, if any, U S citizens can even remember a time when "The Star Spangled Banner" wasn't our National Anthem. For us, this is our National Anthem, and always has been, so the argument that "it could be changed" isn't going to meet with very much support. If that one little verse is so controversial, why not simply remove it from the official lyrics? As far as Francis Scott Key being a racist, or made racist remarks, the same thing could be said for a great many popular figures in American history, including the Great Emancipator himself, Abraham Lincoln. Are we going to strike the Gettysburg Address from our History books?
 
People rarely sing more than the first verse, anyway. So why not just shorten it to that? 😕
 
Mr Trick
Mr Trick
Indeed. Sometimes there are simple answers!
Mr. Pole said:
Because they try to hide it and sweep it under the rug. Pretend it doesn't exist.
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So whichever way you look at it, its not really an issue because its not out there. If that part of the anthem isn't being sung in public then its not really going to do any damage. The more modern generation might not even know about it. If they do they will just raise above it.
 
Mr Trick said:
The more modern generation might not even know about it. If they do they will just raise above it.
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Basically, it's the "modern generation" that patrols Twitter 24/7; so I'm pretty sure they know about it...and they rarely rise above anything. 😛
 
Mr Trick said:
So whichever way you look at it, its not really an issue because its not out there. If that part of the anthem isn't being sung in public then its not really going to do any damage. The more modern generation might not even know about it. If they do they will just raise above it.
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People know about it. It’s not sung often because of how long it would take to get through the whole song lol. Standing for the minute or two it takes to sing the first verse is long enough for most people.
 
brinkster130 said:
People know about it. It’s not sung often because of how long it would take to get through the whole song lol. Standing for the minute or two it takes to sing the first verse is long enough for most people.
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Oh I get that, but it wouldn't surprise me if there's a whole new generation who barely know the first verse😉 Anyway, I really don't think you can connect a lot of today's racial problems in American to the anthem.
 
brinkster130
brinkster130
People don’t think the anthem causes racial problems in America, it’s more of a reminder of America’s general acceptance of racism.
brinkster130 said:
People know about it. It’s not sung often because of how long it would take to get through the whole song lol. Standing for the minute or two it takes to sing the first verse is long enough for most people.
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And it's not just about slavery, it's about the elitist attitude. Hirelings were medium to low wage workers who did not own land. It looks down upon anyone but the upper echelon of people. Or so says the general thought on the subject.
 
Is it racist?

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I sing the updated version of O Canada. In all of us command instead of all thy sons command. And my home and chosen land rather than my home and native land. How far do you go to to repudiate slavery and past wrongs? As far as you have to in order to build a more fair and balanced world.
 
Blaze
Blaze
It always surprises me how different O Canada is in French vs in English
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