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Francis Scott Key's Am I Truly Free

194 Words1 Pages
Try as one may, it is hard to convince blacks that the national anthem was written with them in mind. Francis Scott Key’s nearness to slavery, and his limited view of freedom and equality, makes it impossible to separate him from his own distasteful words. While the national anthem celebrates the victory of America over the British and is patriotic in that sense, the 3rd stanza serves as a reminder of the ugly legacy of black slavery. It forces blacks to raise the age old question: Am I truly free? Is America the land of the free? The contradictory principles in the national anthem and the reality of American society, regarding the treatment of blacks are what compelled Kaepernick to protest. The Star-Spangled Banner was right for the time
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