Just avoided an argument Saturday night about Colin Kaepernick's protest. I'm fascinated at how quick "mainstream" Americans are to attack athletes of color over social justice protests. I didn't see Kap's protest, but I read about it. I stand/sit with him.
The Star-Spangled Banner, written by Francis Scott Key is quite a doozy. Key had been captured by a group of Colonial Marines. These were runaway slaves that had joined with the British.
"The Marines were a battalion of runaway slaves who joined with the British Royal Army in exchange for their freedom. The Marines were not only a terrifying example of what slaves would do if given the chance, but also a repudiation of the white superiority that men like Key were so invested in.
All of these ideas and concepts came together around Aug. 24, 1815, at the Battle of Bladensburg, where Key, who was serving as a lieutenant at the time, ran into a battalion of Colonial Marines. His troops were taken to the woodshed by the very black folks he disdained, and he fled back to his home in Georgetown to lick his wounds. The British troops, emboldened by their victory in Bladensburg, then marched into Washington, D.C., burning the Library of Congress, the Capitol Building and the White House. You can imagine that Key was very much in his feelings seeing black soldiers trampling on the city he so desperately loved."
In September of 1815, Key was on a British vessel pleading for the release of his friend Dr. William Beans. This is when he observed the battle of Fort McHenry. This was the night when he wrote the SSB. The third verse, which we don't often sing, has this line..."Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution. No refuge could safe the hireling and slave from the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave". Loosely translated, Key was saying the slave blood would wash away British blood from our shores. The SSB is basically a diss track to black people.
Civil rights and equal treatment has kinda been a diss track to blacks. Kap works in an environment where most of his co-workers are black, but the bosses are white. He and his co-workers sacrifice their bodies for the glory and accolades from their bosses and fans (who also happen to be majority white). I'm glad to see more and more athletes being socially conscious. And he seems to really understand the theory behind what he is doing.
http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/colin-kaepernicks-national-anthem-protest-w436704
http://www.theroot.com/articles/history/2016/07/star-spangled-bigotry-the-hidden-racist-history-of-the-national-anthem/
https://vimeo.com/166881889
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I honestly hadn't thought much lately about the national anthem before Kaepernick's protest. Perhaps all this patriotic fervor is turned up higher than usual because of the dovetailing of the Olympics, our current political climate, and the start of the NFL preseason. The anthem is probably supposed to be inspiring, a reminder of the country's stand against the British to maintain the freedom initially won during the Revolutionary War. But as a black person, in these times, it is a reminder that this country has yet to live up to its ideals when it comes to how it treats people of color and other marginalized groups. Until then, the phrase "land of the free, and the home of the brave" is somewhat empty.
Post a Comment