Cheers for Shaun King: “Why I'll never stand again for 'The Star-Spangled Banner'”
August 30, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Cheers to Shaun King for his August 29 column in the New York Daily News, “Why I'll never stand again for 'The Star-Spangled Banner.'”
King, senior justice writer at the Daily News, writes of being inspired by San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand for the national anthem to dig into the actual history and content of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and its author Francis Scott Key. He discovered, “Key's full poem actually has a third stanza which few of us have ever heard. In it, he openly celebrates the murder of slaves. Yes, really.” And after studying the history and content of the national anthem, King writes, “I used to love it, but now I regret ever going anywhere near it.”
And King writes, “I'm joining Colin Kaepernick, who joined in with the spirit of Rosa Parks, by standing up for our rights by sitting down. I hope you join us.”
Read Shaun King’s entire column with his perspective, here.
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