Let’s talk about this. If the people who are kneeling during the national anthem are doing so because of unequal human rights, black rights, native rights, minority rights, gay rights, etc…is this the forum for it?
What if the people are protesting the flag as a symbol of the United States? the home of the free and the brave? its sad to say but in the USA we probably have more freedom and rights than other countries, we are even free to protest the very same country we live in. And while all protests can be well and good and also may be a start of a great revolution, let’s not divide, let’s work together to appoint leaders that actually care about being equal, free and brave. But I digress…. keep reading….
What does the national anthem stand for and where does it come from?
Below is where it came from….
But what does it stand for?
I am probably too literal of a person but I do not see human rights as a catalyst for this poem. Based on the War of 1812, which doesn’t have anything to do with human rights and literally kills/moves/destroys an entire race.
The poem was set to the tune of a popular British song written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a men’s social club in London. “To Anacreon in Heaven” (or “The Anacreontic Song”), with various lyrics, was already popular in the United States. Set to Key’s poem and renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner”, it soon became a well-known American patriotic song.
This poem was written in
The War of 1812 (1812–1815) was a conflict fought between the United States, the United Kingdom, and their respective allies. Historians in Britain often see it as a minor theater of the Napoleonic Wars; in the United States and Canada, it is seen as a war in its own right.
And part of the war of 1821 is killing the Natives and taking their land. ”American expansion in the Northwest Territory. [greed]
Which the British wholeheartedly agreed with.
Another part is about British and America blocking each other from trading with other countries. [greed]
President Herbert Hoover signed the bill on March 4, 1931, officially adopting “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the national anthem of the United States of America. As currently codified, the United States Code states that “the composition consisting of the words and music known as the Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem.”
36 U.S. Code § 301 – National anthem
The composition consisting of the words and music known as the Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem.
(b)Conduct During Playing.—During a rendition of the national anthem—
(1) when the flag is displayed—
(A) individuals in uniform should give the military salute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note;
(B) members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute in the manner provided for individuals in uniform; and
(C) all other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, and men not in uniform, if applicable, should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart; and
(2) when the flag is not displayed, all present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed.
However, this statutory suggestion does not have any penalty associated with violations. 36 U.S.C. § 301 This behavioral requirement for the national anthem is subject to the same First Amendment controversies that surround the Pledge of Allegiance. super interesting read about where the pledge came from HERE
The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, ensuring that there is no prohibition on the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble, or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, as one of the ten amendments that constitute the Bill of Rights.
BUT check out the Next code:
36 U.S. Code § 302 – National motto
“In God we trust” is the national motto!!!
Whoot, let’s have a heyday about that one!
Oh say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs 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 washed out their foul footsteps’ 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 loved homes and the war’s desolation.
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved 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
from here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner
Just my musings, let’s talk civilly about it.