The Marines were a battalion of runaway slaves who joined with the British Royal Army in exchange for their freedom. Of particular note was Key’s opposition to the idea of the Colonial Marines. He supported sending free blacks (not slaves) back to Africa and, with a few exceptions, was about as pro-slavery, anti-black and anti-abolitionist as you could get at the time. He was, like most enlightened men at the time, not against slavery he just thought that since blacks were mentally inferior, masters should treat them with more Christian kindness. Key was an aristocrat and city prosecutor in Washington, D.C.
To understand the full “Star-Spangled Banner” story, you have to understand the author. That-as is the case with 99 percent of history that is taught in public schools and regurgitated by the mainstream press-is less than half the story. The story, as most of us are told, is that Francis Scott Key was a prisoner on a British ship during the War of 1812 and wrote this poem while watching the American troops battle back the invading British in Baltimore. O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
Oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave, In fact, if you look up the song on Google, only the most famous lyrics pop up on : “The Star-Spangled Banner,” as most Americans know it, is only a couple of lines. It is one of the most racist, pro-slavery, anti-black songs in the American lexicon, and you would be wise to cut it from your Fourth of July playlist. In the case of our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” perhaps not knowing the full lyrics is a good thing. Most black folks don’t even know “the black national anthem.” (There’s a great story about Bill Clinton being at an NAACP meeting where he was the only one who knew it past the first line.
Jeremiah Wright remix than the actual full lyrics of the song. “God Bless America”? More people know the Rev. Above Photo: Generic image ISTOCK Most people don’t know there’s more than one verse to the national anthem, and it’s the third that’s a doozy.Īmericans generally get a failing grade when it comes to knowing our “patriotic songs.” I know more people who can recite “ America, F–k Yeah” from Team America than “America the Beautiful.” “Yankee Doodle”? No one older than a fifth-grader in chorus class remembers the full song.
0 kommentar(er)
