U S National Anthem Racist?

Written by a white supremacist with a verse about killing slaves, seems pretty cut and dry to me.

Maybe Britain and America can have a race to change their crappy anthems. We're asking for an imagined deity to save an unelected head of state with a bit of war mongering thrown in for good measure.
 
I know some people place importance in a National Anthem as something to represent what a country stands for, but I don't. To me its a catchy tune (or not so catchy in the UK's case🙄) with a little bit of tradition to it that gets played at sporting events or random events. As a anti-Royal I don't like ours. But seriously I think the world has bigger battles right now😉
 
The Bronze said:
Written by a white supremacist with a verse about killing slaves
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Just to be clear, these were former slaves fighting for the British in the Revolutionary War that he's talking about (as well as working men).

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
 
T
thrasherpix
IIRC (too early for me to look it up, haven't had breakfast yet), he still considers them slaves, and wanted their "property" (human beings) back
Buffy Summers said:
Just to be clear, these were former slaves fighting for the British in the Revolutionary War that he's talking about (as well as working men).
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Former slaves that were granted freedom and citizenship by the British fighting against the land of the free (white slave owners)
 
I'm not making a value judgment on whether they should or should not have fought for the British (though, to be fair, who was running the country at the time and set up Black slavery? The British.) However, I only posted that so that everyone was clear on what we were talking about, rather than relying on hearsay to form their opinions, as often happens.

Though I'm not saying that Key wasn't a racist, only that when he's writing about people he sees as traitors that creates another layer to the discussion.
 
I can understand the sentiment of the NAACP, but it seems like a tempest in a teapot when changing this would do nothing. If anything, changing it would give the illusion of real change (assuming that's the only thing that was changed).

I wouldn't be against the third verse being officially cut out, especially as it's not really sung anyway. It wouldn't be the first thing to change to fit modern sensibilities (like adding "under god" to the Pledge of Allegiance, and IIRC, a "Nazi salute" to the flag used to be a thing, but after WW2, it was changed to a hand over the heart--in this case I did find it fast, this. I'd see officially cutting out the last verse as about the same thing as that.)
 
Yeah they were traitors (from his POV). I think it's a reasonable guess that the white traitors are the hireling, and black traitors were property/slaves. I just worry that some try to obfuscate the facts with trivial details like that (not saying it's done here, but that does get done a lot), but then that goes into the whole tempest in a teapot thing which is more of a distraction than anything worthwhile.
 
Buffy Summers said:
Can you explain that further? Do you mean that's where the controversy lies or that's what the problem with the song is?
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Because it is viewed as some that the song was written as an homage to the free men victory over the slaves. It was because so many slaves were fighting (with the british for their freedom) in that particular battle which makes the song's meaning ominous and akin to a call to victory for white man over black man. Which the issues that arose the last few years with police violence, etc against african americans many felt that it's the same situation. That is why they view the song, and it's dubious creation, as being indicative of everything wrong with the country.
 
But let's get real, all of this is just an attempt to justify why the protests happen during the National Anthem and not at some other time, because that's such a big argument against it. It's not like anyone actually knew about the third verse before this. No one thought it was dubious until someone told them to think that way.

Sadly, things like this make it easier for people to dismiss the real problems as overreactions, hype, etc. And frankly, it creates more of a divide than creating understanding.
 
I totally agree with @Buffy Summers and the problem with the modern media is that encourages a lot of people who don't really believe in these things to jump on a band wagon without really knowing much about what they are getting behind. To me this just isn't a big issue. There are far bigger flaws to focus on.
 
Buffy Summers said:
But let's get real, all of this is just an attempt to justify why the protests happen during the National Anthem and not at some other time, because that's such a big argument against it. It's not like anyone actually knew about the third verse before this. No one thought it was dubious until someone told them to think that way.
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I don't disagree at all about that. But the question was is it racist, and yes, it is racist.

But like I said before, does it really matter?
 
The fact that people believe that changing the national anthem would somehow erase history is laughable. Nobody is ever going to forget slavery happened.

Also, I don’t know why this is being connected to the NFL. The players aren’t kneeling in hopes of having the song changed; and if the song were to be changed they wouldn’t suddenly be standing. Policed profiling/brutality and racial inequality in America goes far beyond this song.
 
brinkster130 said:
Policed profiling/brutality and racial inequality in America goes far beyond this song.
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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.
 
Buffy Summers said:
The problem is, by publicizing it like this, it could change if it matters. I don't think it mattered before.
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No, it didn't matter before. And it shouldn't matter now. But considering the climate we live in today, I'm not surprised this has become an issue. People are looking for an excuse to be offended these days. It's what all the cool kids are doing on social media, in any case.

This reminds me of the relatively recent hullabaloo over "Blazing Saddles." Certain groups are actively searching for reasons to be outraged. Seek and ye shall find.
 
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