About the Star Spangled Banner
Francis Scott Key was a racist by any era's definition.
Francis Scott Key was a virulent racist who believed distributing abolitionist literature was a seditious act. He owned slaves throughout his entire life and was a principle founder and lifelong advocate of the American Colonization Society, dedicated to deporting blacks. He supported the Fugitive Slave Act and the Dred Scott decision. His wife Polly grew up on the plantation that enslaved Frederick Douglass. His denigration of African-Americans and abolitionists in personal letters and addresses to juries should make him historically persona non grata and certainly not the author of our national anthem.
The Star Spangled Banner is rooted in treason.
Key learned the legal profession from Philip Barton Key, a traitor who fought for the British in the American Revolution and was indicted in Maryland for treason. Francis Scott Key named a son for this uncle and gave the principle eulogy at his funeral. Yet Key wanted death for blacks who fought for the British in return for their freedom.
The Star Spangled Banner is rooted in sexism.
The music was composed by an Englishman as the theme song for an English all-men's club devoted to wine and revelry. Women should be outraged that we adopted such a song for our anthem. Can't we write our own original music?