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The Star-Spangled Banner

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In America today, there is a lot of controversy on just about everything, no matter how trivial it may be. One topic that has many public figures, including our current President Donald Trump, in debate is the fact that a few NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem as a peaceful way to protest. Some people believe this is a great disgrace to our country, while others think that is a great way to peacefully protest against police brutality. Regardless of what people think on the topic, one must first take a look at the history of the song they are protesting or fighting for. In times of great distress and turmoil greatness can arise, and in the hours The Star-Spangled Banner came into fruition was no exception. Francis Scott Key was …show more content…
It started out as just a poem and was eventually put to music, but it would many years before it became the anthem for the country (source 1). The year was 1831, and the United States was enduring one of its lowest points, the Great Depression. The Great Depression had many ill effects on the country, but a few good things managed to come out of it. One good example was that the Star-Spangled banner was officially named the national anthem, after forty previous failed attempts (source 3) Why at this point in history was it so important for Americans to have something that brought them together as a nation? Well everything had a reached a low at this point in the nation’s history, employment, salaries, morale, and trust in the government are just a few examples. Because the country was so down trodden with all these ill effects from the great depression, giving them a national anthem to bring the demoralized nation together …show more content…
It’s not the playing of the National Anthem that has caused any problems, but instead how some players are using it as a way to protest against what they believe is wrong with the country currently. This form of protest began with the NFL player, Colin Kapernick, who decided to kneel instead of standing during the playing of the national anthem before football games. This small act of peaceful protest has caused quite a stir amongst the citizens and political leaders in the United States. Kapernick began this protest because of police brutality in the United States, but now this protest has spiraled into something new. Now because of the publics distaste of this protest, because many believe it is disrespectful of our troops, the current president, Donald Trump, has been very outspoken about his point of view on how this protest should be dealt with. The NFL has been disagreeing with his views, and are allowing the players to kneel if they want to, which is still causing many public figures and citizens to become upset (source 2). This feud has been going on for an entire year and as of this time it doesn’t seem like either side will budge anytime

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