THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER

There has been a lot of talk recently about how racist our National Anthem is. 

Apparently ALL NFL football players think its racist.  Most black politicians seem to think so as well.  The NAACP is demanding we get rid of it and pick another song as out anthem.

The third verse of the National Anthem is the one which some people find to be objectionable.  That is because they have not made much real effort to understand its actual meaning.   They see the word “SLAVE” and freaked out.   A lot of people have never even heard the third verse because it is rarely ever sung.  

Here are the lyrics of the third verse.

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 washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave'
From the terror of flight and 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.

Here is how historians explain the lyrics…

• The Star Spangled Banner lyrics “the hireling ” refers to the British use of Mercenaries (German Hessians) in the American War of Independence
• The Star Spangled Banner lyrics “...and slave” is a direct reference to the British practice of Impressment (kidnapping American seamen and forcing them into service on British man-of war ships). This was an Important cause of the War of 1812
• Francis Scott Key then describes the Star Spangled Banner as a symbol of triumph over all adversity

There is really nothing racist about the third verse, but even so, it wouldn’t bother me if we did get rid of the third verse.  But why get rid of the whole anthem just because there is a misunderstanding of the meaning of the third verse?