The California chapter of the NAACP recently passed a resolution at its state conference pushing for the removal of “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the national anthem, calling it “one of the most racist, pro-slavery, anti-black songs in the American lexicon.”
California NAACP calls for removing 'Star-Spangled Banner' as national anthem – Washington Times https://t.co/goguG5FRQi
— Hiroshi Ishida (@weissjarden22) November 9, 2017
National anthem lyrics prompt California NAACP to call for replacing song https://t.co/v3CRBrkqQ1 pic.twitter.com/8fhL9SsIfj
— CBS News (@CBSNews) November 9, 2017
California's NAACP seeks to remove 'The Star-Spangled Banner' as the national anthem and aims to help Colin Kaepernick sign with another NFL team. https://t.co/3q9249mNpi pic.twitter.com/pNdHwLmoGo
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) November 9, 2017
California NAACP seeks to remove 'Star-Spangled Banner' as national anthem https://t.co/5F80r2hIjZ pic.twitter.com/zBzMsBEhyT
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 9, 2017
Critics point to the third verse of the anthem, which includes the passage:
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave
However, as people tried to explain to an aghast Shaun King last summer, “slave” in the song referred not to Africans but to kidnapped American seamen forced into service on British ships.
In September, vandals defaced a monument to Francis Scott Key in Baltimore and painted it with the words, “Racist Anthem.”
Giving credit to Colin Kaepernick for drawing attention to the anthem, California NAACP President Alice Huffman predicted that “all this controversy about the knee will go away once the song is removed.”
Which will be … never?
Um… .what?? This is outrageous and 100% unAmerican. Maybe sign with a different country instead. https://t.co/kUOkB55CqW
— Lady Andrea (@Yugely_Alaskan) November 9, 2017
Is there a facepalm emoji?
— ???Leslie Bialler ? ?♈ (@lesliebialler) November 9, 2017
Stop! Just stop being so divisive! The other 75% + of the population are getting sick of it.
— Ronni G (@ronni_g) November 9, 2017
https://twitter.com/CarlSmi24175301/status/928752692368891904
IT BEGINS. Were it not for Trump fighting them w/help from no other major political figure, the country would have already rolled over on this and high school principals nationwide would be stripping the anthem from games+classrooms as "too controversial." https://t.co/bIXrIAd2l9
— Tara Servatius (@TaraServatius) November 9, 2017
https://twitter.com/SlavLibertarian/status/928768831190790144
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Related:
Shaun King speaks ‘whole truth’ about ‘ugly’ National Anthem — but did he leave something out? https://t.co/3J38mAKkpk
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 30, 2016
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