National anthem criticized for having racist ties

A USF historian says the anthem was written by a Maryland slave owner, yet he is critical of slaves.

Tammie Fields, WTSP 5:03 PM. EST August 29, 2016

TAMPA, Fla. -- While NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick was protesting police brutality when he refused to stand for the national anthem a lot of people say they've been protesting against the song for some time because it has racist ties.

The Star Spangled Banner wasn't initially a song. Francis Scott Key wrote it as a poem some 200 years ago and the music isn't original either according to Dr. John Belohlavek, a history professor at the University of South Florida. He says putting lyrics to someone else's music was a common practice in the 1800's.

We asked Dr. Belohlavek about the controversy surrounding Francis Scott Key in one particular part of the Star Spangled Banner that reads:

A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation!

Belohlavek says, "Key was a slave owner -- a Maryland slave owner; so he was criticizing those slaves and hirelings, those who would fight with the British to obtain their freedom. There were a number of slaves that did that in return of the British promising them their freedom."

Key saw the American flag swaying in the final moments of the British bombardment at Fort McHenry during the War of 1812 and was so moved by the flag surviving a 25-hour, 1,800-bomb assault that he wrote the lyrics but we only sing a portion of them at military and sporting events.

Belohlavek says,"We sing the first stanza of it."

He says it's ironic that our national anthem is again at the center of controversy. "It's come full circle; here's a Maryland slave owner writing a song that we talk about that regards freedom for our country, bravery and courage and at the same time as we penetrate the lyrics, we find that he is critical of slaves and hirelings."

There are some people who believe the Star Spangled Banner shouldn't even be our national anthem and some of them have even started petitions on Change.org asking that the song be changed instead to America the Beautiful.

To read "The Star-Spangled Banner" in full, CLICK HERE.

Complete version of "The Star-Spangled Banner"