The journalist Jon Schwarz, writing in The Intercept, argued yes, denouncing the lyrics, written by Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812, as “a celebration of slavery.” How could black players, Mr. Schwarz asked, be expected to stand for a song whose rarely sung third stanza — which includes the lines “No refuge could save the hireling and slave/From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave” — “literally celebrates the murder of African-Americans”?
That argument drew outrage from some conservative news outlets, as well as a more scholarly rebuttal from Mark Clague, a musicologist at the University of Michigan and the founding board chairman of the Star Spangled Music Foundation. We spoke with Mr. Clague, who is writing a book about the song, about the anthem’s history and shifting meanings. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Why do you think those who call the song racist are wrong?
The social context of the song comes from the age of slavery, but the song itself isn’t about slavery, and it doesn’t treat whites differently from blacks. The reference to slaves is about the use, and in some sense the manipulation, of black Americans to fight for the British, with the promise of freedom. The American forces included African-Americans as well as whites. The term “freemen,” whose heroism is celebrated in the fourth stanza, would have encompassed both. (Link to rest of the interview)
51 comments:
The National Anthem is not racist...but then again it was Democrat Woodrow Wilson who promoted it.
We could have gone with God Bless America, but a lot of Democrats hated that Irving Berlin wrote it.
Are we going to throw out the constitution if a slave owner signed it?
Where does it stop?
We need a time machine now - to harvest more grievances.
It's important we never stop beating ourselves up for past sins. Real or imagined. Even in song lyrics, we will hunt down the dirty racist, and sever his head.
Where does it stop?
The SJWs will let you know.
I lived for many years in the town where Francis Scott Key lived and worked. I have been to Fort McHenry on many occasions. I have stood on those ramparts. I saw the original flag in the Smithsonian dozens of times - it is enormous. The American flag I used to fly is a small replica of that very flag. Fifteen stars seems like enough. Forty eight was an acceptable number, fifty is a bridge too far. Fifty seven is a sign of retardation.
My father is buried in the same cemetery as FSK. I know the tune was To Anacreon in Heaven. There is much history in that song and it used to have a very moving effect on me.
In that same town dwelled Roger B. Taney. Barbara Fritchie, too. Stonewall Jackson marched his troops right up Patrick street on his way to Gettysburg.
The fact that some multi-millionaire with brain damage wants to make an issue out of the singing of our national anthem is one thing, it is quite another that millions of people swarm to his defense.
I didn't leave America, America left me.
I lived for many years in the town where Francis Scott Key lived and worked. I have been to Fort McHenry on many occasions. I have stood on those ramparts. I saw the original flag in the Smithsonian dozens of times - it is enormous. The American flag I used to fly is a small replica of that very flag. Fifteen stars seems like enough. Forty eight was an acceptable number, fifty is a bridge too far. Fifty seven is a sign of retardation.
My father is buried in the same cemetery as FSK. I know the tune was To Anacreon in Heaven. There is much history in that song and it used to have a very moving effect on me.
In that same town dwelled Roger B. Taney. Barbara Fritchie, too. Stonewall Jackson marched his troops right up Patrick street on his way to Gettysburg.
The fact that some multi-millionaire with brain damage wants to make an issue out of the singing of our national anthem is one thing, it is quite another that millions of people swarm to his defense.
I didn't leave America, America left me.
Stonewall Jackson died before Gettysburg, but well said 60.
The problem is that America has lost it's balls. The NFL has lost it's balls. This douche needs to be cut immediately. They should refuse to pay off his contract for a moral turpitude clause. Bury him in legal fees.
He has freedom of speech. But just like every conservative who voices his opinion about things like same sex marriage and loses his big shot job at an internet server so too should this asshole have to suffer the consequences.
You can not let the left monopolize the process of personal destruction because of the statement of belief. You need mutually assured destruction. Stop surrendering to political correctness.
It's great that the Santa Clara cops are refusing to work the game until they do something to Kaperdick. The other police departments should do the same. The NFL should be made to suffer.
They refused to allow the Dallas Cowboys to wear a sticker supporting the murdered cops in Dallas and they let this shit head wear his socks and spout his shit.
Push back twice as hard.
Or they will lose their working class patriotic American audience. How many hipster douche pajama boys and feminazi's buy season tickets?
I just canceled my cable tv.
I will not support ESPN and MSNBC and all the rest of the crap. The NFL was just about the only reason for me to stay on board. I can listen on the radio. Streaming video only for now on.
Enough is enough.
Troop, don't make him a martyr at this point. That is what he wants.
There is no moral turpitude clause to standing or not standing during the anthem. Now he is kneeling. What ever it is, it's grandstanding. But it is done, the NFL already lost that fight. The NFL should ban pig cop socks, but they won't because Goodell is a pussy.
The 49ers will eventually cut Kaepernick later this season when it is in their best interest contractually to do so (before they have to pay him millions more) because he sucks as a QB. He's a head case. And other teams will be loathe to pick him up because he's a head case and they don't need that shit.
Cool about canceling cable tv.
You are not making him a martyr. You are making him an example.
The moral turpitude is in supporting an ongoing criminal enterprise which is "Black Lives Matter." It might not stand up in court but it is the truth. These are criminals and criminals families. By acquiescing to their narrative you are giving them life. A prosecutor with balls with use RICCO against them.
The NFL should cut anyone who supports BLM. You know who would have done that. Halas. Mara. Rooney. The giants who built this league. But those guys are long gone.
So it is time for working class patriotic Americans to have their voices heard. You want to hate on America. You can travel to Cuba now. Have fun.
Now that the Housewives are on HULU I have not compelling reason to have cable.
Everything I need is available live streaming or on a subscription service. Screw the rest of it.
The number of commercials on broadcast and cable TV makes it unwatchable for me. I watch streaming most of the time. Same with music. Also I will never buy anything that pops up on my screen over the content. Are you listening out there. NEVER!
The NFL has no rule on standing. They just "encourage it."
Firing him over that, at this point, would be stupid. Why bother, he sucks as a QB. Let his play (or lack of play) speak for itself. The 49ers will let him ride the bench as a back up QB until they have to cut him to avoid paying him millions more. By then they will have found a replacement back up QB. I am not a 49ers fan, but that is the way to handle this.
The NFL is a joke and has been for a long time.
How am I making him an example? The media is doing a good job of it. I have done nothing but criticize the douchebag. He is entitled to his free speech rights. I am entitled to mine.
1. Get a famous patsy to say something extreme
2. Pause for usual common sense condemnation
3. Flood the zone with think pieces and virtue signaling and smarter than thou observations about how maybe the patsy has a point (eg., why do we play the anthem before sporting events?, isn't the anthem racist? Not really super racist, fine, but from an era in which there were racists ... you know what I mean ... it's so not cool and stuff ... just play the game)
4. Keep picking at that scab until it starts bleeding again
Whenever you see the idiot's face endorsing a product, shun that product like you shun the cop-hating BLM.
Va te faire enculer, Kaepernick.
Geaux Blaireaux.
They just needed a rhyme for grave, like the sexist 12th stanza needed a rhyme for brunt.
Well, there you go - that's what I get for learning history from a freakin' poet.
Perhaps the poem was written regarding Antietam. That is yet another battlefield, along with Gettysburg, that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
Barbara Fritchie.
He's drawn attention to himself and his own racial obsession. My answer is don't give him any.
Who, again? Football what? That soccer innit? Never mind.
His twitter time line is obnoxious. Completely one dimensional. He is for somebody else. Someone else of like obsession. Of no significance to me a'toll. I think reading it is what caused my brain swell inside my zika skull.
Begone!
For I'm in the presence of nice people. Go vote for Hillary, you dope.
Now I will talk about something else.
King Soopers deliver is a brilliant service.
You see, I wanted dairy real bad, but too weak to go get some, shop around, and bring it all home. A short drive, a drive nonetheless, and I'm not up to it.
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A handsome strapping lad delivered all the bags faster than I could have done this myself. No exaggeration. They're brilliant. And totally worth it. Brought right into my apartment.
One error, though. I ordered gallons of milk and they substituted 1/2 gallons or organic. The carton says their cows are happy and much grass all day in a field. And the taste of this milk is simply outstanding. It's noticeably better than the cheap stuff I've been buying. I'm sold. I'm converted. For now on it's organic milk for me. Probably twice the cost, and it's whole milk, it's this close
-->.<-- to table cream. Udderly delicious.
See what I did there?
And now I feel healing coming upon me. Pain in my head is lifting.
Corn flakes and Ovaltine is healing me. And next I'll have tofu in thin soup.
Yeah, I said it, tofu. It's actually quite good if you can get over yourself.
And although I sought out King Soopers and signed up online with them, somehow they're hooked up with another outfit that manages all that. The email says "instacart"
They hit a home run today with me. They saved me. Stocked me up on the things I was dreading to go out and get.
And if you use them be sure to say, "Thank you, Handsome Stud! You really came through."
(He carried all those bags up one trip without even using a cart. I remember when I could do that. But not anymore.)
Once again anothr millennial impresses the hell out of me.
The service is totally worth it. And not just because you're busy or sick.
Recommended.
Sixty, Stonewall was mortally wounded at Chancellorsville, so I'm guessing you're probably right about Antietam, but America is still out there.
Don't go by what's in the media.
Whole milk is better for you than skim. Grass fed cows have better milk.
Stand for this.
You can stand for this one too.
"Troop, don't make him a martyr at this point. That is what he wants."
What BS. Yeah, don't fight back, its just want they want.
LOL!
Funny how the Left makes Conservative Martyr's all the time. And it seems to work for them.
Conservatives need to stop with defensive BS. The only way Hollywood, NFL, ESPN, Disney, etc. etc. will change is if conservatives fight back and hurt them in the wallet.
If Kap gets enough shit thrown at him, the next Left-wing millionaire QB will think twice about behaving in public like a Grade A creep.
We're cutting cable too. Its absurd. 500 channels and nothing to watch. They have a million TV shows from the past 50 years they could show, but all we get is constant re-runs of MASH and Sanford and Son. And women's Basketball, stupid movies, someone speaking Spanish and "serial killers on Death Row". Or if I tune into the History channel I get something about Hitler or the Occult.
Plus, as Bags says, Commercials, commercials, commercials. Why the hell do I have to listen to ANY commercials, given how much fucking $$ I'm paying.
You can all stand for this one too.
Kapernick deserves the criticism. Shun his endorsements. Boo him. I doubt the 49ers are the least bit into this fiasco, they know what a mistake they did in contracting with Kaepernick.
But ultimately he is not a leader for the team and his future with the NFL is dim. No one wants a prima donna like this, especially since he can't play.
Comcast and all those other greedy fucks, figured out they could bribe a couple Congressman and they could screw the rest of the USA over.
Goodbye TV, hello Netflicks.
rcocean, I was referring to the 49ers. You can protest Kaepernick all you want. I have posted three posts on the subject, all rather critical of the douchebag. Please do not lecture me how outraged you are--or maybe you can start your own I hate Kap blog. You want to cut cable and not got to NFL games, by all means knock yourself out. I support that.
When I said make a martyr of him, I was referring to the Team. The 49ers just firing him for not standing is shooting themselves in the foot. Kaepernick benefits contractually (I suspect that is what he wants) and the 49ers hurt themselves. I am sure the Team's legal department and management is figuring out the right way to part ways with this dick. I suspect he will be gone sometime during the season, with little or no regular season play.
The communists in the White House and at the NY Times and the Washington Post and NBCCBSABCCNN think that they're almost there. Using the schvarzes as their shock troops they think they're almost at the point of thoroughly demoralizing America and bringing her down. But.....
Take heart, America, the cavalry is riding to the rescue and at the head of the cavalry is DONALD J TRUMP!
Reading the original post I notice "Jon Schwarz, writing in The Intercept", so there you have it - ricpic has correctly identified the enemy.
ripic it is in African American interests to reject one party socialist crony capitalist rule that is being jammed on us.
Which is why Trump was in Detroit today delivering an alternative message.
Evi - I don't own the 49ers, so I couldn't care less whether they make or lose money by cutting Kaeperfink.
I want him cut. It would discourage people from emulating him even more. "Hey, they'll cut me even if it costs them money. Better stand for the Star-spangled banner".
This isn't a free speech issue. Kaeperfink can say whatever he wants. Its a patriotism issue.
BTW, the real reason Trump is in Detroit is NOT because he thinks he will get one extra AA vote.
He's going after the dumbshit white vote. You know the people who know blacks vote 80-90% Democrat but want the Repub to "reach out to them" - because otherwise they think Repub is "racist".
Which is the worst thing in the world to these morons. If Trump didn't "reach out" then these goofs would think he's a member of the KKK and vote against him.
Its all kabuki theater - for dummies.
rcocean, of course Trump is trying to win some African American votes (and yes to win over those whites who think he is part of the KKK given how the pro Hillary media portray him that way). But I will take Trump at his word that he is going to do better for African Americans and all working Americans than Hillary Clinton or the Democrats will--by promoting pro growth policies.
And if you were the owner of the 49ers you could fire Kaepernick and pay what ever his contract says you got to pay him and it would be done. Good for you for standing up to him (oh wait, it is not your money and team).
Nick, don't be bad mouthing LT.
LT took care of business on the field. He was always a professional on the field--he knew his job was to win.
His job was to make sure QBs did not stand.
Guess who sits with Colin Kaepernick?
"And if you were the owner of the 49ers..."
Yeah well, I live in Realsville (to quote Limbaugh) - and as one of the 319,999,999 Americans who DON'T own the 49ers - and never will - what do I care if it costs them $$?
Really.
I want Kaeperfink fired. I only care about the country. Not a football team owner's finances.
I want Kaeperfink fired. I only care about the country. Not a football team owner's finances.
Well, I won't go that far. I want to see him mocked. Mocked because his cause is wrong and in the end really amounts to his just wanting to get some hot Islamic pussy.
That is the first time I have ever seen "hot..Islamic..pussy" used.
Kind of a mind fuck, isn't it Spinelli? But there you have it.
There is a wise old eye-talian proverb (Biblical I suppose) that goes:
Tira più un pelo di figa che un carro di buoi.
Translation: A pussy hair pulls more weight than a team of oxen.
Meaning: "A woman can talk a man into anything."
There is no longer any reason for anyone to take the NYT seriously any more. The left doesn't. The right need not do so, either.
They are a subsidiary of the DNC. Nothing more.
Read it for Melissa Clark's recipes! But there's just no way you can take it at all seriously on any "non-lifestyle" story.
That's the straight scoop. You heard it here.
Now that the Housewives are on HULU I have not compelling reason to have cable.
Everything I need is available live streaming or on a subscription service. Screw the rest of it.
Hear, hear.
This reality was on my horizon as long ago as 2007, when The Sopranos ended and I cancelled my insane and completely useless Comcast subscription.
I am with Chick on this, mock, ridicule and then ultimately forget this bozo.
I am pretty sure that is the plan for the 49ers, too.
Colin Kaepernick stands for and sings the National Anathema.
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