Originally Posted by Choro&Swing (Post 1797433)

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.

The first three lines asks what has happened to the British army that boasted the war would take away our home and country. In line four the answer is found: our soil was polluted by their foul footsteps, but that pollution has been washed out by their blood. “Hireling and slave” in line five refers to the British troops: mercenaries (hirelings) and drafted or “impressed” poor men (though they weren’t actually slaves, they were forced to serve against their will after being essentially kidnapped).

Originally Posted by blueash (Post 1797459)

Why do POC feel that there is still a major issue with racism in this country? I present for you a facebook posting by an election officer in Mississippi. She likely will tell you she is not a racist and is perfectly capable of conducting an election without racial animus. She has not resigned.

Her explanation for her posting is just as bad.
"We've always in the past had whites really participating in registering to vote. So many people don't seem to be concerned about [voting]. This was an error on my part."

Originally Posted by dewilson58 (Post 1797555)

A prospective.



The Hodgetwins - NFL To Play "BLACK NATIONAL ANTHEM" Before National Anthem | Facebook

Originally Posted by blueash (Post 1797148)

Again the BLM movement is supported by most Americans including most white Americans. For those who believe that white people agreeing with BLM is a rarity, your information bubble is too small.

So I don't see many people, although there were some, who objected because this honored one of many segments of American society, the objection was because it honored Black Americans. The poem reflects on how far we have come and how much suffering there has been but with perseverance and the help of God the future is bright. Obviously there still is work to be done.

Originally Posted by Professor Glenn Johnston

If you search Newspapers.com for "hireling and slave" your initial results will uncover current articles discussing our problems with Key's words in the National Anthem. However, if you narrow the search to Key's time, 1780-1816, you will see that slave and hireling were each used in a pejorative fashion to describe free people carrying out the wishes of a more powerful person. This is similar to China's Communist newspapers calling our South Vietnamese allies "running dogs" or "puppets" during the Vietnam War.

As proof that all Key did in his third verse was employ a rhetorical device, I submit the following evidence. In 1813, in the midst of the War of 1812, and a full year before Key penned the "Defence of Fort M'Henry," another poet used the words hirelings and slaves in a poem to describe the King's soldiers during the Revolutionary War at the Battle of Bunker Hill. In the poem "The Death of Warren" from the Trenton True American, published on 15 May 1813 in the Lancaster Intelligencer and Journal, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the poet describes:

",,,,,When tyrant George assailed our shore,

and thousands of his slaves sent o'er,

With power to kill, inflict each ill.

Our towns to burn that we might mourn.

And make us to his sway return.

A sway that was slavish and foreign."

The poet continues in a later verse:

"Now How(e), who had the chief command

of George's troops within our land,

Addresses thus his hireling band:

'To stand us they are not able.

Behold (he cries) the motly host,

And quickly drive them from their post;

And as you live no quarter give,

Mind no prayer, not one spare;

For vengeance we will have that's rare.

And destroy every Yankee Rebel.'

...

Based on the widespread use of hireling and slave as a an epithet in the US press during the lead-up to and waging of the War of 1812, I believe it is entirely credible that Key used hireling and slave in that fashion. His poem was not meant to arouse anything but patriotic fervor through recognition of Baltimore's defense. The narrative of the US David defeating the British military Goliath was central to his theme, not communicating his beliefs about chattel slavery as practiced in the Chesapeake region. With Bible societies on the rise in the US as well as a rising tide of abolitionism, such a display of racism would have caused issues both in the North as well as Baltimore. The third largest city in the US at the time with the largest population of free Blacks in the US, free Blacks--and enslaved Blacks-- who had just helped save the city, Baltimore was in no mood for racist rhetoric the day after its major victory.

...

At the outset of this piece I suggested that the solutions found by the humanities to many problems are those that just seem real and authentic. The solutions that spin a narrative that best seem to fit the facts and context as known at that time are what we seek in the humanities. Change the context or the known facts and you may decide on a different explanation and solution for the problem. In this rather tedious piece I have presented the evidence as I know it and tried to place it within the context of which I am aware. Based on that, I believe Key simply used the phrase "hireling and slave" as a rhetorical device in his poem Defence of Fort M'Henry in order to describe the British Army and Navy repelled from Baltimore's door in September 1814. In the true spirit of the humanities, however, if you provide me evidence that changes what I know, I just might change my mind.

Originally Posted by ithos (Post 1797583)

Please take some time and research the background of BLM the organization.

We are anti-capitalist:
We believe and understand that Black people will never achieve liberation under the current global racialized capitalist system.

ABOUT US – M4BL
Movement for Black Lives - Wikipedia


They are a radical leftwing extremist group who don't give a damn about improving the lives of blacks or any other group. They are simply opportunists who believe the ends justify the means. And the ends is an overthrow of our Constitutional Republic.

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Originally Posted by John41 (Post 1796693)

Next we will be saluting a BLM flag and singing Kumbayah. The NFL players today are overpaid prima donnas not fit to walk in the cleats of the players of the past. As for the NBA I’ll take Bob Cousy any day.

Originally Posted by Byte1 (Post 1797676)

Best rendition of the National Anthem

YouTube

Originally Posted by Snowprint (Post 1797677)

It’s great to know we are free to mock the national anthem or burn the flag without fear of imprisonment here in America. That’s not true everywhere. China, for example, locks people up for protesting the totalitarian regime. There are those who want to emulate China in positions of power here. Don’t allow wanna be dictators destroy what makes America great!

Originally Posted by George Page (Post 1796732)

The NFL could be making a big mistake!
What happens when some fans refuse to stand for the Black National Anthem?

In any case. HAPPY 4th!
Enjoy your independence....while we still have it.

Originally Posted by Fredman (Post 1797699)

I won’t stand

Originally Posted by TexaninVA (Post 1797681)

People can protest peacefully all they want .... but if someone riots or burns or defaces statues etc, they should go to jail -- that includes burning the American flag.

If someone wants to burn a flag, I recommend the Chinese or Russian flag. Maybe the Iranian flag. Go for it.

Originally Posted by TexaninVA (Post 1797750)

I think God Bless America is the perfect warmup to the Star Spangled Banner. Excellent idea.

Originally Posted by TomPerrett (Post 1797780)

Too many people are to concerned about things that haven’t happened.
If you take care of the present And stop the fear of what the future might bring you would be to busy to feat what ain’t there. Remember the boogie man, he wasent real either.

Originally Posted by Choro&Swing (Post 1796768)

I’m laughing. Yesterday I saw a meme on Facebook complaining that NASCAR would no longer begin each race with the national anthem and a prayer. I love the TV series “Friday Night Lights”. In that show, though, the team had a group prayer in the locker room before every game, led by the coach. I remember the scene in the great World War II movie “Catch—22” where Buck Henry asks the “padre” to offer “a nice snappy prayer” before a bombing mission, and when it drags on, Colonel Cathcart butts in and asks God for nice tight bombing patterns that will destroy the enemy. I remember the old Bob Dylan song “With God on Or Side.”

Originally Posted by TomPerrett (Post 1797780)

Too many people are to concerned about things that haven’t happened.
If you take care of the present And stop the fear of what the future might bring you would be to busy to feat what ain’t there. Remember the boogie man, he wasent real either.