Black National Anthem?? What in the world...

[StillStanding]

Originally Posted by tstew

Interesting thread. Somebody suggested perspective from some black folk...so here goes....
I honestly find some of the historic symbols of patriotism a little ironic at best and somewhat disingenuous at worst. Can you imagine hearing some of the beautiful lyrics about freedom and liberty and God-given rights while at the same time recognizing that this was penned, quoted, and sang at a time when slavery was embraced based on color.
"O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave" just seems ironic. I'm not even sure how one could say "With liberty and justice for all" with a straight face given the reality of the time.
Without question there were also evil Africans who participated in the slave trade. I guess one of the differences for me is that they were not claiming to be a "Christian" nation with Christ-like ideals. They were not saying and writing the same kinds of things about about "all men being created equal" and certain Jehovah God-given rights. They were not claiming to be people of prayer and people who knew God.
I don't believe the lady meant to be disrespectful, but she may have been misguided in her efforts. It just seems to me that the races hold the traditional symbols at different levels of sacredness.

The IDEA of having the land of the free and the home of the brave, the IDEA that all men are created equal, the IDEA of God-given rights were what our country was built on.

At the time of our country's birth, the world-view was skewed as to what those ideas really meant. Evidently, there were some people (even those who called themselves Christians) who didn't think this applied to people of color.

Thank God that today a large majority see these ideas as applying to all people of all races and religions.