What? We're just going to start this one like that...WHAT? You did read that headline correctly though. There are some Americans that are calling for our country's national anthem to be replaced. Say it with me....What?

According to the Smithsonian, Francis Scott Key wrote the anthem on September 14, 1814 when he saw the US flag flying over the fort at dawn’s early light. Now Key's alleged connection to slavery is being brought to the forefront.

The Smithsonian says that Key was a slave owner and defended slave owners’ rights to own human property. As you can imagine, that fact makes people uncomfortable. So in the same fell swoop as taking down monuments and changing the names of buildings and streets across the country, there's now this call - to change our national anthem.

You can find the petition to make the change on Change.org. The petition is calling for the 'Star-Spangled Banner' to be outlawed and the anthem changed to 'America The Beautiful'. According to those behind the petition, the change needs to happen for three reasons:

  1. The "Star Spangled Banner" contains “racism,” elitism and even sexism embedded in its third and fourth stanzas.
  2. The only ideal or national priority the "Star Spangled Banner" spells out is military strength and victory. Nowhere in the anthem is brotherhood or national unity proposed.
  3. "America the Beautiful" is a timeless anthem that expresses and celebrates the highest of all ideals - i.e. brotherhood within our borders, deference to our natural resources, and indirectly alludes to the safeguarding and conservation of our air, water, and land.

As fate would have it, this news made its way to social media - with some split on the idea.



I'd love to hear what you think. I'm going with 'no' on this one.

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