From Reader C Harrison..

C, C, C.. You keep trying to blame people of today for things that happened over 200 years ago.. What about all those white Northerners who fought in the Civil war?? I'm 1/4 Oglala Sioux, which side do I hate?? Neither as I take on relationships one at a time. Treat me fair and I'll treat you fair, irregardless of the color of the wrapping for your soul.

Key penned Star-Spangled Banner on Sep 13, 1814... Over 200 years ago.. .. The British which the 'slaves' fought with were the ones who Enslaved the most.. At that time, there were also Many, many Irish/Celtic white slaves here in America.. Yet no mention of them ... Why?? Should the Irish hate people today??? Even Lincoln loved Slaves..

The very word slave stems from Slav, .. a reference to the experience of millions of (white) Slavish people who endured centuries of slavery at the hands of African Muslims. This, of course, is a most inconvenient truth, for it is a most Politically Incorrect truth. But it is the truth.

I rather like America the Beautiful over the Star Spangled Banner.. but hey, that's me.. :-)

Blacks and Whites Enslaved together should be a rallying cry not a point of dissension.. No More!!! Yet here we are enslaved by the government ..

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Re: Reader: Good comments from Ditka!!

The comments about Trump are good but the comment about Kaepernick is "unbalanced" for the following reason. The Constitution is a good effort but flawed in that Black people are only counted as 3/5ths of a person when determining census for representation in Congress as well as other problems.

If we are going to be honest about the good that Trump does we must be honest about the bad that needs to be reformed.

The Star Spangled Banner is a song that has horrible words toward Black people and, it has not ALWAYS BEEN the national anthem so there is no need to fear change if that means a more fair and inclusive foundation for all of American's citizens.

"To understand the full “Star-Spangled Banner” story, you have to understand the author. Key was an aristocrat and city prosecutor in Washington, D.C. He was, like most enlightened men at the time, not against slavery; he just thought that since blacks were mentally inferior, masters should treat them with more Christian kindness. He supported sending free blacks (not slaves) back to Africa and, with a few exceptions, was about as pro-slavery, anti-black and anti-abolitionist as you could get at the time.

Of particular note was Key’s opposition to the idea of the Colonial Marines. The Marines were a battalion of runaway slaves who joined with the British Royal Army in exchange for their freedom. The Marines were not only a terrifying example of what slaves would do if given the chance, but also a repudiation of the white superiority that men like Key were so invested in.

All of these ideas and concepts came together around Aug. 24, 1815, at the Battle of Bladensburg, where Key, who was serving as a lieutenant at the time, ran into a battalion of Colonial Marines. His troops were taken to the woodshed by the very black folks he disdained, and he fled back to his home in Georgetown to lick his wounds. The British troops, emboldened by their victory in Bladensburg, then marched into Washington, D.C., burning the Library of Congress, the Capitol Building and the White House. You can imagine that Key was very much in his feelings seeing black soldiers trampling on the city he so desperately loved.

A few weeks later, in September of 1815, far from being a captive, Key was on a British boat begging for the release of one of his friends, a doctor named William Beanes. Key was on the boat waiting to see if the British would release his friend when he observed the bloody battle of Fort McHenry in Baltimore on Sept. 13, 1815. America lost the battle but managed to inflict heavy casualties on the British in the process. This inspired Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner” right then and there, but no one remembers that he wrote a full third stanza decrying the former slaves who were now working for the British army:

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
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.

In other words, Key was saying that the blood of all the former slaves and “hirelings” on the battlefield will wash away the pollution of the British invaders. With Key still bitter that some black soldiers got the best of him a few weeks earlier, “The Star-Spangled Banner” is as much a patriotic song as it is a diss track to black people who had the audacity to fight for their freedom. Perhaps that’s why it took almost 100 years for the song to become the national anthem."

http://www.theroot.com/star-spangled-bigotry-the-hidden-racist-history-of-the-1790855893

When we make blanket statements about the actions of others without understanding both sides of the coin we act unreasonably which is a sign of bias.

Why should Black people want to pledge allegiance to a flag for a country that has declared them 3/5th of a human while singing a song that celebrates spilling the blood of all hired slaves fighting for their freedom?

Before answering that question, ask yourself this one, if God is Black, how would God feel about your answer?

Elevate the meek and humble.
Elevate women.
Protect the human rights of ALL people, not just the few or privileged.
Then peace will reign on earth.

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