Group Calls National Anthem Lyrics Racist, Makes Push To Get Rid Of Song
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SACRAMENTO (CBS) — The California NAACP is pushing to get rid of the national anthem, which they're calling racist and anti-black.
"This song is wrong; it shouldn't have been there, we didn't have it till 1931, so it won't kill us if it goes away," said the organization's president Alice Huffman.
Colin Kaepernick started the NFL protests, which quickly spread to bring attention to systemic racial injustice in the country. But Huffman says Kaepernick's message was lost when it turned into a debate about the flag.
"The message got distorted, the real intentions got overlooked, it became something that's dividing us, and I'm looking for something to bring us back together," she said.
Huffman adds that the protests did lead her to look at the lyrics of the "Star Spangled Banner," especially the parts of the anthem we don't typically sing.
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"It's racist. It doesn't represent our community, it's anti-black," she said.
Huffman is referring to the third stanza, which includes the lyric "no refuge could save the hireling and slave from the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave."
THIRD STANZA (FULL LYRICS AT BOTTOM OF STORY)
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 wash'd 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.
She says some interpretations conclude that the lyrics celebrate the deaths of black American slaves fighting for freedom, and the song should be replaced with something that supports all of our values.
Huffman says it may not solve anything, but it's a step towards social justice that she says is long overdue.
"This is not about the flag. We love the flag. This is about a song that should never have been the national anthem. This country is a country that has shared values, and the more we respect each other, the better off we'll be as a country," said Huffman.
A separate resolution by the California NAACP is calling on Congress to censure President Donald Trump for his remarks about firing those who don't stand for the anthem. They are also asking NFL teams to let Kaepernick play again.
"He still has a lot of talent, and he has the right to play, why should he be persecuted over peaceful protest?"
The organization is still looking for legislative sponsors for these resolutions.
STAR-SPANGLED BANNER FULL LYRICS
O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bomb bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
'Tis the star-spangled banner – O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!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 wash'd 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.O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – "In God is our trust,"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.