High School Bans ‘Outdated and Racially Offensive’ National Anthem from Rallies
Victor Morton, Washington Times, February 13, 2018
Student leaders at a high school in the San Francisco Bay Area have decided that the national anthem is racist and outdated and have banned it from school rallies.
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“It was brought to our attention that the national anthem’s third verse is outdated and racially offensive,” Ariyana Kermanizadeh wrote in an open letter. “We had nothing but good intentions by removing the song so that we could be fully inclusive to our student body.”
She said the decision was made when students learned about the third verse, which includes the line “No refuge could save the hireling and slave / From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,” during planning for the winter rally. It applies for the rest of the school year.
Ms. Kermanizadeh said the fact that the third verse is practically never played, and very few Americans even know the lyrics doesn’t matter — the entire song is tainted.
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[Editor’s note: We supply here the full third verse.]
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.
