home of the brave land of the free lyrics

But here is just some of what I found, and you can do your own research as well. Now I know this is shocking to almost everyone reading this, and some of you may have stopped reading because this is not what you want to hear about our National Anthem.

I did some research and there are many articles on this subject, almost all of them calling it a racist verse. What exactly does Francis Scott Key mean by these words, specifically the hireling and slave? No one knows because Key is dead and cannot explain what he meant in his own words, so we have to try to interpret them based on who he was as a person. The controversy lies with the meaning of lines five and six of this verse and has become the topic of the day. O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. No refuge could save the hireling and slaveįrom the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,Īnd the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution. That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusionĪ home and a Country should leave us no more? The third verse of the National Anthem goes like this:Īnd where is that band who so vauntingly swore,

But this article is about the National Anthem, so let me get back on subject. These are just a few examples that you see on a regular basis. Then you have the Super Bowl champions whose logo contains a partial representation of the flag, which is yet another violation. Also, every team has a small flag displayed on the back of their helmets, which is another violation. By allowing the flag to be spread out horizontally over the field, you are in direct violation of the flag code. Over the past few days there have been a lot of posts about the flag code and how many people who claim to be patriotic, including the NFL owners, have been violating that code. Maybe the Chicago bears took the same stance because they were playing in Green Bay and wanted to get out of town safely.

Although I was upset over the message being changed by Aaron Rodgers who spoke for the team, I had to consider that Green Bay is an overwhelmingly white-populated city and they were definitely concerned about upsetting their fan base. After a massive protest this past weekend by the entire league, I watched a watered down version last night where the narrative was changed from a protest against police brutality to players locking arms in solidarity of team unity. Everyday there are more debates over the protests by NFL players who choose to take a knee.

Home of the brave land of the free lyrics