With Everything Going On, Politico Wonders If It’s Time to Ditch the Star-Spangled Banner

With Everything Going On, Politico Wonders If It’s Time to Ditch the Star-Spangled Banner

Why would we consider ditching the Star Spangled Banner? Because it’s racist, of course:

One line taunts the British for their failure, and specifically calls out “the hireling and slave” who joined the British forces. That line calls attention to a fact that considerably weakens the song’s claim to celebrate “the land of the free” – the presence of significant numbers of African-Americans, fighting with the British in hopes of finding a personal freedom they had no chance of securing in the United States. Among the invading army were at least 200 “colonial marines”—escaped slaves from Virginia and Maryland, eager to fight against their former masters.

As Widmer sees it , Francis Scott Key was not only a slave owner, the anthem’s third verse references escaped American slaves who fought on the side of the British:

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 wiped 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.

(Widmer seems to forget that the Brits didn’t outlaw slavery until 1833 – 19 years after the 1814 Fort McHenry battle which inspired him to write the song.)

Facts?

Facts have no place in this.  This is the Politico.

So what should replace the racist Star-Spangled Banner?

America the Beautiful.

It’s not the first time I’ve heard this, but it is the first time I’ve seen the Star-Spangled Banner called racist.

How about you?

Duane Lester

Duane Lester is co-founder of All American Blogger, and the primary writer. Following graduation, Duane entered the United States Navy as a journalist. He spent five years touring the world, reporting on local news and sports. Following his enlistment, Duane spent almost 10 years working with adjudicated youth in residential treatment environments. Duane discovered politics after September 11. He credits Erich "Mancow" Muller for opening his eyes to his conservative beliefs. Since then, Duane has devoured books and literature on politics, reading everything he can from Adam Smith to Larry Elder to Thomas Sowell. He refers to his style of politics as "conserva-tarian", a mixture of conservative and libertarian beliefs.

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