During the War of 1812, Key, accompanied by the British Prisoner Exchange Agent Colonel John Stuart Skinner, dined aboard the British ship HMS Tonnant as the guests of three British officers.

Skinner, Key, and Beanes were not allowed to return to their own sloop because they had become familiar with the strength and position of the British units and with the British intent to attack Baltimore. Thus, Key was unable to do anything but watch the bombarding of the American forces at Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore on the night of September 13–14, 1814.

At dawn, Key was able to see an American flag still waving. Back in Baltimore and inspired, Key wrote a poem about his experience, "Defence of Fort M'Henry".

He took it to Thomas Carr, a music publisher, who adapted it to the rhythms of composer John Stafford Smith's "To Anacreon in Heaven", a popular tune Key had already used as a setting for his 1805-song "When the Warrior Returns", celebrating U.S. heroes of the First Barbary War.

When it was first adopted as the National Anthem by Woodrow Wilson - only Military bands were required to play it.

So the Anthem has always had a STRONG military connection historically - let alone in the NFL when they parade out Marines and Honor Guards and Soldiers during the National Anthem the last 30 years.

So for athletes to say or be ignorant of - that the anthem has nothing to do with the military, they haven't been playing NFL football...and they don't know their history.

This post was edited on 11/5/17 at 6:26 pm

0 ...

Report Post

Posted by Athletix

:pels:

Member since Dec 2012

5070 posts

Posted on 11/5/17 at 7:11 pm to brgfather129

quote:
While you may think the black community has had plenty of time to get it together, it hasn't been that long since they weren't allowed to piss in the same trough as your grandpappy.

How long is long enough? This is part of the issue. The mindset that because my people were oppressed it makes it ok for me to claim victimhood, when the issues black Americans face today are miniscule in comparison. Most problems black Americans face today aren't a product of racism, but are problems that start in their community. Lack of fathers, high crime rates, poor performing schools.. It's an environment that's hard to succeed in regardless of skin color. These are large generalizations, but the point is that kneeling because you think cops are racist is not how you fix your community.

quote:
There will continue to be a "race issue" in this country until those as simple as you on both sides stop expressing faux outrage over anthems, SC6 and Confederate flags and work on making progress toward actual equality

I'm not outraged about the anthem protests, I stated pretty accurately imo on why people are pissed. SC6 I've watched very little of, again because I'm not looking to get race issues shoved down my throat through sports. Couldn't care less about Confederate flags..

quote:
If you stepped out of St. John Parish for more than five minutes, you would understand that.

Public highschool, graduated from Southern and not from St.John as if that would matter. I learned a lot while at Southern. I was able to stray away from getting into a "republican/conservative rut". While at Southern everything was geared toward black students. Makes sense, and I'm not complaining. That environment at the time really asked questions on how to make the community better. Where did you come from how were you going to improve.. It was rarely and I mean hardly ever that people brought up police injustices. Things have changed now, the news has cranked up on the "you're a victim" rhetoric. I can never find anyone willing to talk about the issues I brought up at the beginning. No matter what skin color you are, if you don't have a father your home will be less "stable" or structured. If you live in a high crime area, you're more likely to get involved in criminal activity. If you go to poor performing schools, you will likely have a subpar education... These are real issues, but people scream racism when brought up.

TLDR- These protest don't address the real issue. Players/people should spend time improving schools, families, and neighborhoods. Instead they kneel for an issue that is minor in substance and major in divisiveness.

Page 1 2 3 4