Some people are calling for “The Star-Spangled Banner” to be dumped as our National Anthem . . . because it’s tainted with racism.
Among other things, composer Francis Scott Key was a known slaveholder who once said that African Americans were, quote, “a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community.”
One suggestion is to replace the song with “Imagine” by John Lennon.
Why “Imagine”? One person says, quote, “[It’s] the most beautiful, unifying, all-people, all-backgrounds-together kind of song you could have.” Lennon didn’t have slaves, of course . . . but he wasn’t a saint either.
Others say we could swap it out for “America the Beautiful” . . . which is more aspirational and unifying . . . and less militaristic . . . than the “Star-Spangled Banner”. An online petition for that has been signed by more than 3,000 people.
(I don’t know if the submission deadline has passed, but has anyone considered “Party in the U.S.A.“?)
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